bmi regional / Eastern Airways brewing?

[egnxema]

Has anyone on this forum heard anything this week about bmi regional and Eastern Airways brewing up more plans together?

E

[Chillwinston]

Have not heard anything but working together on routes they compete on surely is the way forward, must be hurting them both.

[egnxema]

I have not heard anything definate - but in the Rumours/News forum it has been suggested that there could be a big move of routes from regional to Eastern affecting EMA, LBA and ABZ based aircraft.

[Trolley-Dolly-Babe]

I can't see this personally!

Has everyone forgotton the last time they tried codesharing on MAN-DND and INV?

Massive fall-out and flights pulled from sale at bmi within days!

Now they're always competeing on the same routes. One launches something, the other one follows. Amazing really.

TDB x

[CATAWAMPUS]

egg

Odd then that new flightcrew are being deployed at Leeds, the EMB170 has finally been ordered and Baby are sourcing 8 more 737s to base at LBA. Yesterday, the airport company successfully trialled the closure of runway 27 for extended apron parking, although a Multiflight robin then found that the crosswind on 32 was too tough. GA ops from LBA will probably be suspended soon.

[hotline]

This whole BMI/Regional/Mainline/Baby/Jet2 business at LBA could prove to be very interesting. I'm not sure what the future of the FK100s with regional is, but last night they carried 75 pax on the EDI - LBA flight. Obviously way too much for a ERJ145 but maybe a little on the light side for a A319 ? I'd hope to see regional hang on to the FK100s for the forseeable future as the routes they're currently operating are beginning to see more pax. Plus, from a baggage point of view they're easy (ish) to load.

As for BMI baby, I can't see LBA being able to support another major operator for the time being. Virtually every parking spot is occupied at night (by Jet2 and BMI aircraft mainly !) so baby would probably have to operate "w" sectors thru LBA during the day with none-based aircraft, assuming they have any spare !
It would be nice, however, for LBA to gain another major user.
Another apron extension pleez.

Incidentally, this is my first post so until I'm au fait with the etiquette of the network I crave your indulgence !

Hotline. : ;)

CATAWAMPUS

Slightly off the thread I know but I think LBA were genuinely short of parking spots last night due to a couple of extra aircraft, a Nigerian Government 727 and an Excel 757 neither of which departed until after 2200 local. One of the Jet 2 aircraft got shunted down to 27 threshold to make way. Still it\'s not the first time this has happened. I wonder if an apron extension over the long stay car park is feasible if the management want to hang on to 27.

Eight Baby 737s at LBA ! Now that would be fun. What would Jet2 make of it all ???????

:confused:

[CATAWAMPUS]

They will be rebranded with a big Baby on their tails.

[Flightrider]

Or maybe the other way around. At least Jet2 is part of a group which produced some half-respectable results for last year (which implies that it didn't blow vast amounts of cash), whereas the last set of financials for bmi were pretty grim reading and no sign of improvement in sight. Bmi needs to come up with a sustainable long-term strategy and work out what it wants to be - fast.

[CATAWAMPUS]

Correct. But that presupposes rational management who make sound business decisions and are not swayed by personal vendettas.;) bmi would do better if they convinced Jet2 to back off gay Paris and left everyone to get on with their prior business. I fear Jet2 may have unleashed a tiger with a tantrum and once again no-one will win, much less the employees.

[682ft AMSL]

Sounds like sticking a 'big baby' on the LBA fleet would be quite appropriate if this latest piece of "strategic" thinking is entirely motivated by Jet2's decision to operate a 1 x daily service to CDG. If bmi are so precious about this route, why has it been starved of any investment since the decision was taken to pull the Fokker 70 off the route 5 or 6 years ago?

Of the three main European city destinations from the UK regions, Leeds handles about 20k per month to DUB and 25k to AMS - comparable, if not better than any regional airport of its size. Yet LBA-CDG at a miserable 4k per month is I believe the country's smallest CDG route in terms of passenger numbers. Of course, the yields are probably sky high but if bmi choose to operate a thick route on a thin, niche basis then it is somewhat inevitable that an operator with a more popularist approach will move in.

To me. the situation is entirely of bmi's own making. By their own actions (or lack of them) they've created a market for Jet2 to exploit.

One would hope that any changes to the bmi schedules at Leeds are motivated not by a petty reaction to Jet2's CDG route, but rather reflect the very pressing need to establish some clear direction and focus:

- What market will bmi serve from Leeds / what routes should be flown?
- Are these best suited to regional or Baby?
- How does this fit in with bmi's strategy (that word again) at MAN, EMA and MME?
- How do they fit in with compettion from other players at Leeds, Doncaster etc

In my view, there is a market that bmi can exploit at Leeds, probably with a combination of regional and Baby. It needs to be well thought out though and will probably die on its a**e if the whole thing is a knee-jerk, short-termist reaction to Jet2.

682

[brabazon]

This thread seems to have veered off course somewhat from the original bmi/eastern heading, although the bmi baby v Jet2 posts are interesting. I have to question one of the postings which implies that bmi have ordered the Embraer 170 - I haven't seen an official announcement on this or will it be announced at Farnborough?

[CATAWAMPUS]

Tongue stuck firmly in cheek.

The 170 rumours are still out there tho'.

Nicely put 682.

As for the original topic - absolute nonsense. Regional will not give away anything much to Eastern.