BMI

[DTVAirport]

However believe they have leased slots to other airlines they are seeking to be returned.
Now that is interesting, does anyone know anymore about this?

By the way, MIDV won't be the first A320 to leave, MIDW went ages ago.

Regards.

[IB4138]

Would be a good time to consider relaunching LHR-AGP, with what BA are offering when GT depart.

[Count von Altibar]

What's this I hear from a couple of Astraeus pilots that bmi have been sniffing around two of their 757s for wet-lease? Sounds like the Bish was serious then about looking for longer range interim aircraft for some ex-BMED routes.

[ajamieson]

They will have to get some kind of replacement for all these A320s that are being "retired" :hmm:

[747-436]

If BMI did manage to find some 757's I could imagine they could be deployed on THR and ALA of the old BMED routes, and possibly BEY as well.
Word was a few years ago that BMED and BA were going to do a trade, BMED would have the 757's and BA would take its A321's as a swap. Not sure how much truth there was in that though!!

[Count von Altibar]

I hear they're for the Almaty and Freetown routes.

[A330Ryan]

"I hear they're for the Almaty and Freetown routes."

Hello where do you find the above information?

[K.Whyjelly]

"Hello where do you find the above information?"


With such clarity and depth of certainty to it, my guess is that it came from the cleaners..............................or the caterer:}

[ladyflyby]

If they did lease them they would probably just train their long haul crew. I wouldn't be surprised if Tehran was one of the possible routes.

[mutualswap]

If they did lease them they would probably just train their long haul crew. I wouldn't be surprised if Tehran was one of the possible routes.


:ugh::= would,will never happen

worst post i ever saw on this thread



p.s and ive seen some bloody awful 1s:D:{:\:rolleyes:

[A330Ryan]

Why would they just retrain long haul crew?? would it not make sence to train short haul crew so that all crew work on the same amount of aircraft ie:

Long Haul crew being: A319, A320, A321 and A330 (their current fleeting)
Short Haul crew being: A319, A320, A321 and 757

Thats providing they you can fly on the above fleets under possibly 2 different AOCs. (XL LGW crew had issues with being on the XLA AOC and the AAE AOC)

What crew worked on the Arkefly 767?

[ladyflyby]

mutualswap, which part of my post angers you? the use of long haul crew or the mere mention of Tehran?!! Before bmi put the new A330 order on hold, the big man himself told me that he would like to put a bigger aircraft on the Tehran route.

Long haul crew have been trained on all aircraft, even the G-MED types brought over from B|MED.

[A330Ryan]

we know long haul crew are on all the fleet so why give them ANOTHER aircraft to work on??????

[ladyflyby]

Because it saves them having to train all of us!!!!!!

[brian_dromey]

Because the BD fleet/product is messy enough without having passengers having to deal with crews from another airline, in a different uniform, thats why!

Incidentally, the 757s would have to be fitted out with some sort of business class cabin, I assume? I think the current fit in the Astreus/FlyStar fleet is 189Y.

Brian.

[LGWAlan]

AEU B752 currently have 153 down the back 6 abreast, with a separate cabin sold as Star Class with 48 seats at 36" pitch in the forward cabin giving 201 total on board

[A330Ryan]

this is all speculation but....

Does anyone know the actual ins and outs of bmi crew being able to work on the A319, A320, A321 and A330 under bmi's AOC and also the 757 on AEU AOC??? Can that be done?

[A330Ryan]

Thankyou queenvic with that information it NOW make sense for A330 crew to train on a possible 757 if/when... its all speculation at the moment though.

[OltonPete]

I assume the mods won't mind me using a name as it is the thrust
of the Telegraph article (prompt from another forum): -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/01/21/cnbmi121.xml

Apologies if it does not open but a copy and paste into the address bar should work.

RW is to help the "loss-making" bmi baby in a consultancy role. Also note the denial that it has anything to do with the sale of BMI as a whole!

I am sure this type of thing goes on in the airline world everyday of the week but anyone care to comment on this?

Is this in readiness for a sell-off or even more direct "make us an offer".

Pete

[Little Blue]

Well, he hasn't been spotted queuing up at the coffee machine, yet !
I'll ask the cleaners, in the morning. They tend to be more in the know than us Ops/Crewing monkeys !

[Doors to Automatic]

Bloody hell! If I was CR I would be cacking my pants! :eek:

[LHRKLBD]

Anyone have a clue what the big annoucement may be in a couple of weeks ?

[GW76]

Who confirmed any big announcement...?:confused:

[Mod Kit]

Probably the longhaul routes to the USA they are NOT going to operate!:E

[toledoashley]

Cancellation of all Long Haul from MAN
Intergration of baby into mainline / sell off of baby?
More expansion in former Soviet states / Carribean from LHR
Buyout by LH / VS

Who knows, rumours abound for years!

[flyer55]

They have been in talks with BA at a high level about LGW , so you never know ! Thats one rumour !

[toledoashley]

Not sure how a LGW base would work. I presume some kind of slot swap would be on the cards, with bmi using MAN 330's to operate the Caribbean and Orlando routes? Reduction in routes to Mainland Europe and transfer of popular middle east near asian routes - with better connections to *hubs. Maybe a 20 strong fleet.

LGW -
Tel Aviv/Jersey/Zurich/Geneva/Istanbul/Dusseldorf/Stockholm/Warsaw/Cairo/Amman/Moscow/Beirut/Sharm/Banjul?
Antigua/St. Lucia/Grenada/Barbados/Tobago/Orlando

[Count von Altibar]

Hopefully he won't be in charge much longer, as the ABN Amro analyst mentioned in a recent Daily Telegraph article, the biggest thing in UK aviation this year should be the change in ownership of bmi.

[ETOPS]

My good lady has just been rostered an Airbus conversion course at the start of May - she is cabin crew for Baby on 733/5 equipment at the moment. Wondered if this was going to be extra capacity "borrowed" from mainline or a standalone operation?

[Off Stand]

I read somewhere that baby are getting an aircraft from mainline in the summer.

[Ian Brooks]

I think it is to be based at MAN if I remember right until Autumn

Ian

[IB4138]

Correct, The A321, in old livery, is already at MAN.

[ETOPS]

to be based at MAN

Makes sense - that's where she's is based.

[aidoair]

Does anyone know what routes it will be operating on and when it is going to be used up until because as far as i know it is being used until another 733 enters the fleet late summer and is covering for them up until then.

Thanks

[Mactor]

Its certainly doing ALC PRG and BHD as I've got those trips om my May roster

[GLENO]

Anybody know if it's on the AGP route?

[viscount702]

On the same theme.

I believe a further 733 arrives in May. Where will this be based. I don't think it is MAN because that is why the A321 is at MAN to cover the Summer period until late August when the 2nd 733 is supposed to arrive. 4 A/C are required for summer.

The A321 goes back to Mainline so I understand when this 2nd 733 arrives late summer. There will then be 4 733's at MAN.

Where is the A/C to come from to operate the BCN route when it starts in September because the 4 733's are still for all intents and purposes still fully committed with the existing routes. I know the NQY's are dropped on Tuesday and Wednesday in late August and the ORK on those days retimed about the same time but that will not free up anything for BCN which are on different days.


Viscount

[OltonPete]

viscount702

The extra May 733 is due at BHX (well not that particularly aircraft ;)) around the 25th and will be the 8th based, exactly the same amount as last summer.

Pete

[viscount702]

Thanks for that. Do you know where the the 5th A/C which will be needed to operate MAN-BCN from September will come from

Viscount

[8028410q]

Mactor.

I certainly hope you're not doing the BHD in May, we don't go there!! BFS perhaps?

Sorry about that, couldn't resist. I'll see you in the crewroom and buy you a coffee from spar ;)

[Little Blue]

Oh we do love the MAN base !
Keep bringing those cakes down to Ops/crewing whilst yr on yr recurrents !
Good luck to all on the Airbus course !

[Mactor]

802, Sorry it is BFS. We do BHD from LHR with mainline.

[CJ1234]

I'd seen a rumour on pprune that bmi were going to withdraw the 330s from MAN and put them down at LHR, but can't find the thread. Can anyone confirm?

Also, i've heard that the 320 at leeds has been withdrawn and the LHR service is now done on the erj. If true, what are the 320 pilots based at LBA doing (presumably if it's been withdrawn early there's still airbus pilots based there)

Cheers folks!

1234

[brian_dromey]

The A330s are going to be on the CAI and TLV routes, I believe. ORD, LAS and the caribbean destinations have been discontinued from MAN.

The airbus is seen on some, select, high volume LBA-LHR flights, mainly Friday evenings and Monday mornings, IIRC. The rest of the flights are, indeed, operated by the ERJ. Not sure what the crews are doing, I assume operating from MAN or LHR, as required. They are also likely to be found on any charter operations BD may be running.

Brian.

[pwalhx]

This has been cobered in the bmi thread and the manchester thread suggest you search them for further information

[mutualswap]

also ive heard the titanic sank :ooh:

any news?

[Timmyflyer]

The 330's leaving Man has been on cards for quite a while.....Ord ended last week and Vegas, Barbados and Antigua finish in Apr(if not before)

[TCX69]

bmi, British Midland International are introducing a 'new' or revised logo.

"To address the low levels of brand awareness, part of the strategy was changing our name to "bmi, British Midland International" at the start of 2010. We have found that having the words “British” and “International” now gives us a stronger position in the market.

Since then we have been working on all the other elements of the new brand name and we are pleased to introduce our new logo which will start to be used within the coming weeks."

Old: http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l524/crewboyneo/bmiii.jpg New: http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l524/crewboyneo/bminew2.jpg

[Skipness One Echo]

To be filed under the "It was so obvious that most of us knew this when you dropped the titles in the first place and stated bmi doesn't actually stand for anything"

Meanwhile thousands of pounds later.....

In fairness that's all completely secondary to yet another decent move in the right direction. Now please lose the utterly useless and frustrating INDIAN CALL CENTRE that called me back today, got my name wrong again and then just got worse...

[EI320]

It's unfortunate that the logo slightly resembles the oneworld one.

[jerboy]

It looks like they took the One World logo, deleted the words oneworld and replaced it with bmi!

If the research shows it will gain a stronger brand recognition then fair play, but as Skipness says, a bit of realisation a few years back would have saved the hassle.

And yeah, that call centre... Not good.

[11K-AVML]

Brand recognition, if works, will mean that every time a passenger sees a Oneworld logo they'll think of British Midland International instead.

[G-ARZG]

That's a big 'if' - much more likely to be the other way around,even based on the reactions to this thread.. "See BMI, think Oneworld" D'OH !

[SN146]

Does anybody know if bmi regional will continue to operate for Brussels Airlines from NCL and BRS with ER4s? The GDS shows ARJ as from spring next year on these routes? Anybody knows more about it?

[TCX69]

"bmi, British Midland International are pleased to announce that we have won a contract to provide two A320 aircraft on wet-lease for a period of 2 years beginning in the summer of 2011.

The aircraft will be based in Birmingham and Manchester and will fly services to Mainland Europe."

bmibaby? Lufthansa?

[aidoair]

"bmi, British Midland International are pleased to announce that we have won a contract to provide two A320 aircraft on wet-lease for a period of 2 years beginning in the summer of 2011.


What source is this from? If they are to be based at MAN/BHX then most likely will be operating on behalf of a tour operator? In the past BD have operated flights for First choice / Air2000, Cosmos / Monarch and Thomas Cook among others ...

I doubt it has anything to do with bmibaby as surely there would be no need for a press release and would just operate on behalf of them anyway?

[wanna_be_there]

Might be tour operators, but I also know bmi baby at MAN has used bmi mainline aircraft for prolonged periods of time in the past (also saw a bmi A321 at PMI operating a WW flight back to MAN)

[shamrock7seal]

bmiregional were, at one point, said to be wanting to operate a BOH-MAN and a SOU-AMS route at some point in the recent past. Is this something that is completely dead or could be re-visited?

[aidoair]

Might be tour operators, but I also know bmi baby at MAN has used bmi mainline aircraft for prolonged periods of time in the past (also saw a bmi A321 at PMI operating a WW flight back to MAN)


Yes bmibaby used a bmi A319 & A321 from MAN in summer 2008, They even used the A321 during this time regularly on the BFS route.

[Tail-take-off]

This isn't from a press release, rather an internal memo canvassing interest in a temporary base.

[Endeavour]

Given that this is a two year wet lease it is far more likely to be a scheduled route on behalf of the Lufthansa group.

[BHX5DME]

BHX and MAN to Frankfurt for next 2 years !

Ian

[fjencl]

If bmibaby are basing an aircraft at BHD as off the 28th march 2011, does that mean they will be having a crew base there, or will the crews be night stopping in hotels to the expense of the airline.

Any ideas ????

[Sonic Bam]

BHX and MAN wet leases are for Lufthansa I believe.

[Tail-take-off]

fjencl

Who said anything about basing an aircraft at BHD? Surely WW routes are operated by aircraft visiting from main bases. Do you know different?

[Ringwayman]

These are the timings:
WW4201 BHD0700 – 0820STN 737 x67
WW4202 STN0845 – 1010BHD 737 x67

WW4203 BHD1420 – 1540STN 737 x67
WW4204 STN1605 – 1730BHD 737 x67

WW4205 BHD1805 – 1925STN 737 x67
WW4206 STN1950 – 2115BHD 737 x67


WW4201 BHD1655 – 1815STN 737 7
WW4202 STN1840 – 2005BHD 737 7

[INKJET]

Well yes and no, the WW aircraft will night stop at BHD as will the crews, but not a base in terms of based crews, I suspect that if the route is successful then it may well become a base in from the winter of 2011 with further routes for 2012 and aircraft.

[mathers_wales_uk]

This is going to be operated by an aircraft from CWL and guessing a CWL based crew. The aircraft goes back to CWL on Saturday morning an return Sunday afternoon.

Mon-Fri

BHD-STN 0700-0820 STN-BHD 0845-1010
BHD-CWL 1035-1135 CWL-BHD 1255-1355
BHD-STN 1420-1540 STN-BHD 1605-1730
BHD-STN 1805-1925 STN-BHD 1950-2115

Sat

BHD-CWL 0700-0800

Sun

CWL-BHD 1530-1630
BHD-STN 1655-1815 STN-BHD 1840-2005

What is unclear is whether or not CWL will be a 2 a/c base from now on with a 3rd a/c on Sat/Sun. Or is CWL going to be a 1 a/c base with a visiting 2nd.

At the moment flights are being sold for a 2/3 aircraft but it had always been before this announcement.

[TCX69]

Shouldn't all this BHD/STN be under the bmibaby thread as apposed to the bmi one?!

[virginblue]

With BMI apparently surrendering another two A320 to LH ops in addition to those already operating LHR-CGN/TXL/MXP/HAJ, how many remain for bmi's own ops?

[flyingfrog]

HAJ (for years) and TXL are BD's own ops. So still plenty of a/c for own ops in addition to the wetleases. ;)

[Endeavour]

LH flights are covered as follows

1xA320 based CGN operating to LHR
1xA319 based LHR operating HAM/DRS (also does 1xTXL per day for bmi)
1xA319 based LHR operating MXP

[virginblue]

Is bmi somewhat short on A319s? I am surprised that the CGN-based aircraft is an A320. In the past, Lufthansa often used Avro RJ85 or CRJ700s on the route. The largest aircraft I remember as a regular on the route was a Boeing 737-500.

The largest aircraft Lufthansa currently uses for non-hub flying is the Boeing 737-300 (there are a few exceptions and they will begin to deploy a few of their own A320s to non-hub routes next year).

[brian_dromey]

A319 are generally found on the domestic & DUB runs (multiple daily flights to BHD, DUB, EDI, GLA and MAN) and from March North Africa (the exact destination escapes me), I would umagine thay have additional A320s as some are being reconfigured from mid-haul to short-haul config, although the BD website states A320s will get the refreshed min-haul interiors too.

[ara01jbb]

(the exact destination escapes me)

LHR-TIP-LHR, although the launch has already been delayed once due to paperwork, presumably at the other end.

[EGAC is Better]

Brian, I was on DX a few weeks back and it now has mid haul C seating (blue leather not the new brown) in the first 5 rows. Must have been fitted when it was repainted recently.

DS was noted on a run to EVN a few of weeks back so I assume it too has gained mid haul C seats?

DT appears to be out of service since 18/11 but operated a DME before disappearing, has it regained its mid haul C seats?

Anyone know the current config of DO & DY, did they retain their C seats or are they operating in convertabile C/Y mode for LH/LX? I remember about a year ago G-MID* A320's were supposed to go back to all Y config.

Can someone in the know confirm any of the above? Presumably the fitting of C seats to the original A320's is to provide operational contingency to the important mid haul routes should there be any tech issues?

Would it not be more desireable to operate TIP with an A320 with a C cabin instead of an A319 with all Y or convertable C/Y seating?

[ara01jbb]

Would it not be more desireable to operate TIP with an A320 with a C cabin instead of an A319 with all Y or convertable C/Y seating?

I think it would, but fleet constraints mean it has to be a short haul config.

Perhaps it was more important to get something/anything going that provides good connections between TIP and EDI/GLA/ABZ. I've heard that there's a lot of business lately between those two countries... :E

[Skipness One Echo]

...one way only I hear!

[TCX69]

The bmi A320 fleet is as follows:

G-MEDH
Fixed Config: 22C 102Y : Ops Midhaul
G-MEDK
Fixed Config: 22C 102Y : Ops Midhaul
G-MIDO
Variable Cabin: 150CY : Ops for LH (CGN)
G-MIDS
Variable Cabin: 156CY : Ops Shorthaul
G-MIDT
Fixed Cabin: 20C 108Y : Ops Shorthaul
G-MIDX
Fixed Cabin: 20C 108Y : Ops Shorthaul & Midhaul
G-MIDY
Variable Cabin: 156CY : Ops for LX (GVA)

I believe the G-MID A320s have had Midhaul seating put back into them temporarily due to there being in effect, an A/C out of the fleet, whilst they took turns being resprayed in EMA.

Within the next month or so this should of been completed.

- G-MEDH is currently in EMA being painted into bmi Livery.

- G-MIDT is currently in MLA undergoing MX.

The A319 & A320 fleet will then be reconfigured & standardised. The new LH-Style seating will also start to be introduced.