bmi LHR-DOH

[FormerFlyer]

Anyone got the inside info on when

a: this route goes on sale
b: when the first flight is?

Have tried bmi's website, call centre a couple of times (useless - one agent thought DOH was a baby route, the other thought I was saying DXB!!) and also used their web feedback form to which I've had no reply!

Please help :confused:

cheers ;)
FF

[bmibabyfc]

formerflyer,

i believe its a codeshare with qatar airways,not sure if its actually bmi operating it! i might be wrong, i will check tomorrow and let you know.....

regards

bmibabyfc

[apaddyinuk]

Bmibaby...Actually they announced a few weeks ago that they intend on operating into Qatar! But the will have some fun trying to find a stand in Doha!!! :p

[Mr @ Spotty M]

The lease starts from the 26th March 2006, so l would say from that day.

[FormerFlyer]

Yeah cheers guys, I'd got the info from their press release!!

Sad thing is, nobody in the company that I email or phone seems to be able to tell me any more than what's in it - and so far the distinctly lacklustre performance makes me wonder if it has been advised internally!!

Yeah bmibabyfc it's a wet lease with QR operating it initially, though IIRC the plans are for bmi to operate it in their own right somewhere down the line.

Any more info gratefully received!

cheers ;)

FF

[Flightrider]

I would think it unlikely that bmi will start LHR/DOH in their own right any time soon.

Qatar Airways wants to expand Heathrow/Doha operations. It cannot get more Heathrow slots and also has another problem in that it is already using the full allocation of frequencies for the Qatari side under the UK/Qatar Air Services Agreement. [The UK side is only using seven of the 21 available due to BA's daily Heathrow-Bahrain-Doha operation.]

Thus along comes bmi to provide Heathrow slots and UK traffic rights to cover Qatar's expansion that it would not be able to achieve otherwise. Presumably bmi is making some money out of this, which would thus allow it to reduce its Heathrow short-haul losses by 1 / 78th (i.e. one daily short-haul flight out of 78 to be withdrawn to fund the slots).

This probably goes some way towards explaining the arrangement and the lack of bmi interest in actually selling the route. It is really a QR operation and bmi is simply acting as a provider of rental services (slots and traffic rights) to enable it to happen.