bmi regional plans?

[no, no, no]

I have just been looking through bmi regionals schedules and see that they are doing 3x East Midlands-Brussels from this winter. The timings would appear to leave them with a gap on the aircraft in EMA in the morning. I know its hard to find somewhere with easy and bmibaby at the airport, but surely it would make sense to fly somewhere instead of leaving it on the ground. Something like Shannon or Knock. Or what about Newquay - this would make a lot of sense to me as the drive must be horrendus (4 hours +). Huge demand for the area as well - even if its summer only.

What do others think?

[crazy idea]

I think a flight to Newquay from the Midlands area would be great news - I always hear of people who hate the drive down - and the amount of weekend traffic would be huge. Some may say due to Ryanair that it is a low-cost place only, but a one a day on bmi's aircraft would probably suffice - I'm sure it would be a big success. One from Manchestre would also work for the same reasons.

[MD11FAN]

How about a service to Copenhagen?; Scandinavia not served at all from EMA and flight could serve Star alliance hub for onward flights.

[unowot]

NQY ?
Don't they all drive !!!!!!
Rest look like reasonable bets.

[no, no, no]

people do drive - but what are alternatives - a huge train journey which I believe you have to change 2-3 times....

people also hire cars when they are away if they want to in other places, and some just like going to one place, be it Newquay, Plymouth or a resort. Take Glasgow for example where a lot of people, especially from EMA where baby and easy have expanded the markets like they have, go to Glasgow and hire a car to go northwards in to the highlands & Loch Lomond etc. And I'm sure the drive to Glasgow is far easier from Nottingham than it is to Newquay!

This is the thing about airlines like bmi regional, and the same would apply to other places like Ireland, a lot of people will continue to go where they always go, or travel there how they have always travelled, but there are always people who will use it, and bmir would only need 40 odd a flight, not hundreds like bigger airlines.

[MerchantVenturer]

"Take Glasgow for example where a lot of people, especially from EMA where baby and easy have expanded the markets like they have, go to Glasgow and hire a car to go northwards in to the highlands & Loch Lomond etc."

Hey no, no, no

I'm doing that very thing next week, from BRS not EMA.

Ryanair seem to have made a good fist of their Newquay route, so perhaps it might make sense for someone to try NQY from another UK airport. So why not EMA and bmibaby?

This airline seems happy to not necessarily have daily rotations to a destination so three or four a week in summer could be worth a try. Who knows, it might be so successful that they would increase to daily.

[jack-oh]

Rather than flying to Glasgow and then driving to the Highlands, why not just fly to Inverness. The airport is touting for trade, the Scottish Executive is providing funds to minimise the costs. Eastern have recently announced a Birmingham/Inverness route in addition to thier existing Manchester one proving there is a considerable amount of buisness as well as holiday/short break demand and with BMI conections to other destinations this adds an incentive for travel out of Northern Scotland by the natives.

[egnxema]

bmi regional or mainline should fly an EMA route into a Star Alliance hub. CPH or FRA. As LoCo's are always "Local Sale Only" and do not interline the EMA entry on the OAG has shrunk, hardly any worldwide connections are shown.

Years ago KLM flew in head to head competition with BD on the EMA - AMS route. They had 3 F50 flights a day, with a hugh ammount of onward KLM connections from AMS.

All the LoCo's are great but an interlining service would be a high priority.

EGNX