BMI

[EI-BUD]

Was just reading the bmi newsletter/email about what the airline plans for the strike at BA if it goes ahead. The airline said it will add capacity and additional flights on similar routes that BA operates.

It said that it would use the slots that become available during the strike to add services. I wonder where they will get the additional capacity?
Probably Titan etc.

However the tone of the information (available on bmi site) sounded to me like cooperation with BA rather than opportunistic!!

What does anyone else think ?

EI BUD


Continuation of: http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=234532&page=13

[flyingfrog]

EI-BUD

This is just bmi doing what it should have done with previous LHR/BA troubles. During the increased security and fog problems last year, bmi did not suffer as much as BA with cancelled flights. Especially the fog at the end of the year, flights were going out less than full and not once did bmi toot their own horn and let the punters know, there was no press coverage of the fact which gave the public the opinion that because BA had problems, LHR was effectively shut down and unoperational, this was a missed oppurtunity for bmi.

[Hudson Bay]

Just read this in the Times. Does anybody know any more?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9077-2563445.html

[Buster the Bear]

BMED ‘in talks with bmi’
24 Jan 2007
The Daily Telegraph reports talks between BMED and a group of UK investors about a potential £30m rescue bid for the airline have broken down.
BMED announced earlier this month that the investors, who include a subsidiary of M1 Group, which is controlled by the Lebanese Mikati family, would provide £30m funding in return for majority control of the airline. They would also, as a ‘demonstration of good faith’, advance £3m of the £30m to BMED by way of a term loan to help meet the airline’s immediate liquidity requirements.

However, according to the Telegraph, the proposed deal has broken down and BMED is now in ‘last-ditch rescue talks with another airline’, believed to be bmi. BMED is reported to have written to its shareholders, who include its chairman, Tory peer Lord Hesketh with a 19% stake, warning that if the latest talks fail there is a risk it will be unable to pay its debts.

The paper quotes BMED chief executive, David Richardson: ‘While we are still having conversations with the Mikatis, their exclusivity period has come to an end. They wanted to make some pretty significant changes to the deal which our shareholders thought was unjustified.’

Richardson declined to comment on any other potential buyers, but added: ‘I am still confident that we will be able to secure a deal with someone. If you are an airline with eight slots at Heathrow, it’s bizarre that you wouldn’t survive in some shape or form because those slots have value.’

BMED, formerly British Mediterranean Airways, was established in 1994 and became a British Airways franchise partner in 1997. It currently operates a fleet of eight aircraft in BA colours to 16 destinations from Heathrow including Beirut, Damascus, Teheran, Tashkent and Khartoum, and employs 750 staff.

In the year to end-Mar05 BMED made a pre-tax profit of £5.1m on revenues of £99.7m. However, record oil prices coupled with the Jul06 Israel-Hezbollah hostilities in Lebanon are expected to push it to a £21m loss in the current financial year, on top of FY05/06’s £10m loss.

In FY04/05 BMED paid BA about £14m in franchise fees and for services including engineering and airport lounges, the Telegraph said. It also provided BA with £28m-worth of connecting passengers, while BA fed through £35m-worth to BMED.

Richardson told the paper: ‘BA are happy with the franchise agreement as it is but we are struggling to make it work for us.’

[Sonic Cruiser]

The Telegraph also has this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/01/24/cnbmed24.xml

Guess if BMI bought BMED then that would be the end of the franchise??

[Final 3 Greens]

Not necessarily.

It could have some interesting synergies, I would have thought.

[zed3]

What was once a proud airline is now BlackHole airlines ..... along with BA . They call it progress . A pox on modern "managers" , long short and tall .

[Projecting GAP]

Any update from people in the know and implications for the crew of BMed being taken over by another airline?

[Hudson Bay]

Heard today that JER - LHR is confirmed. Also heard that the Bmed rumour is true. bmi are in talks but nothing more than that. If the talks are a success bmi are in a position to move forward on a deal. This came directly from the Hall. We'll just have to wait and see.

[GBALU53]

Yes the Heathrow-Jersey route all being well will be signed up tomorrow.

Two flights a day starting the day after the Paris flight finish.

Times are LHR 0710 JER 0815 JER 0840 LHR 0945
LHR 1840 JER 1940 JER 2035 LHR 2135

We will have to wait and see how well it performs it will be reviewed after three years the articl stated.:ok:

[richardnei]

25 Min turnaround in JER in the morning rotation!
Seems a bit short for bmi? I take it these are just provisional timings.
Brgds
Richard

[Matterhorn]

How can bmi in its wildest dreams want to buy BMED: BMED was profitable until two years ago but with geo political problems in the middle east + aircraft that are not suitable for the region how can any airline survive with the losses that it has suffered to date? Do bmi want the LHR slots or give BA a bloody nose?

Good luck to all.

Matterhorn

[EI-BUD]

Matterhorn

Have to say Matterhorn , I have been thinking the very same as you. Bmi would be crazy to seriously consider the network of BMED, many destinations are in politically volatile areas. And lets be realistic BA are delighted to have services to these areas and have absolutely no risks. BA themselves never did have much in its own right to these destinations pre BMED??

If Bmi are buying BMED for slots thats another matter. In any case. BMI have racked up cumulative losses since 2001 of STG18M .. I would be surprised to see them make investment into an airline that itself is in bad financial repair. ADVERT LINK REMOVED

Surley BA have an agreement with BMEd that BA would get first refusal to buy the business??? I think Bmi is getting friendlier with BA??

The whole info about BA strike on bmi website does not seem to be anti BA . Ie I detected from the information more of a cooperation than opposition??

What does anyone think ???

[bmibaby.com]

Actually, bmi have been gaining experience on flying to politically volatile areas with the very successful Riyadh & Jeddah routes. They could make the former BMED services work by not having to pay BA for the franchise agreements, but also with a lower cost base.

Air France have been doing this with their Dedicate service whereby the timetables, frequencies, service levels and comfort on Dedicate flights match all the usual Air France long-haul standards. The flights are operated using 82-seat Airbus A319s offering l'Espace Affaires (business) and Tempo (economy) cabins, which seems to be what bmi/BMED have with their A320s, and can carve out a more successful, profitable niche than flying up/down to Scotland, competing with BA, easyJet and the trains.

[Curious Pax]

Do bmi want the LHR slots

Got it in one I would think, with the added bonus of a compatible fleet (inc engines??) and trained crews (I guess).

Bmi have tried to be creative with their lack of slots in the past - ie their attempt to start up to Doha in cooperation with Qatar AW - so the 7-8 arrival each day that BMed would provide would give them scope for a number of profitable options.

[touch&go]

What happened here at LBA?


http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1166724

[touch&go]

Because Prune want people to use an existing thread for a company and not start lots of new threads.

Simple

[EastMids]

Bmi have tried to be creative with their lack of slots in the past - ie their attempt to start up to Doha in cooperation with Qatar AW - so the 7-8 arrival each day that BMed would provide would give them scope for a number of profitable options.
I can't concieve of why bmi would want more LHR slots right now, unless it was to sell them on later (BMed perhaps being cheaper than the value of their slots?) - if anything, bmi have been operating "slot holding" flights into LHR recently in oder to preserve those slots that they have, rather than needing more. Jersey isn't using all of the slots made vacant by the withdrawal from CDG, so again bmi have some slots looking for flights. The QR deal was nothing to do with bmi needing slots - it was in fact QR operating on a bmi flight number using bmi slots, because the bilatteral didn't allow QR to increase frequencies and QR couldn't get slots itself but bmi had some slots "available".

Actually, as mentioned above, BMed's sphere of operations does IMHO fit fairly nicely into bmi's "new" direction - mid-haul into primarily non-leisure destinations - and on that basis I'd have thought BMed would be quite a nice fit. However, do bmi actually have the money to spend on BMed, because I doubt Uncle Lufthansa or Auntie SAS will put their hands in their pockets without very good cause?
Andy

[N1210F1]

That's what happens when you land with the parking brake set :{

[keyboard flier]

In relation to the BMED talks, the CEO, dep CEO, Finance Director and GM Networks were all down in London last week. The FD is going to be there for maybe another two weeks and the CEO & d CEO are not to be relied upon to be at the Hall over the next couple of weeks.

[uklad007]

East Mids

BMI might not have the money and LH or SAS might not want to fund this purchase but BMI's Board of Directors might have the money to buy it separately and then potentially later merge the two, Sir Michael has ran airlines separately from BMI before if my memory is correct and am not sure what the competition rules might be on the No2 LHR carrier being a franchise operator for the No1 (BA) so he may have to keep the two separate for now - thats if the franchise were to remain.

[BMEDbus]

The deal is done.

BMI have just bought BMED.

:{

[teacoffee]

Is this true?

[DTVAirport]

Hope so, could be great for both airlines.

[Northern Hero]

Tragic :{

'Two wrong's don't make a right', springs to mind.

Good luck to all the BMed staff.

[aeulad]

Is this definite?

Any source?

I was aware talks were taking place, any word on what they are going to do with us?

Regards

Mike

[Sonic Cruiser]

BMI Have bought BMED, there is no news though on what the terms of the deal are, so who knows if the BA franchise will stay!!

Apprently for the franchise to end there has to be something like a years notice from either side, but thats nothing that some Lawyers couldn't sort out!!

[Hudson Bay]

The deal was done last week. Today is soley for the media.

[IB4138]

Interesting on the aircraft front.

BMED has several A321s on order, a type which bmi are in the process of removing from their fleet. The 3 x A320s are the only fit.

[princesssariah]

Contrary to previous posts the deal is in fact not yet done! We should know by the end of tomorrow if it is.

[DTVAirport]

Interesting on the aircraft front.
BMED has several A321s on order, a type which bmi are in the process of removing from their fleet. The 3 x A320s are the only fit.
Assuming the two companies are run separately, this is not an issue, it might even be beneficial to bmi for two reasons:
1) bmi could phase out their A321s quicker by handing them to BMED
2) bmi could use BMEDs A321s occasionally when passenger demand warrants it, or even their A320s.

[bycrewlgw]

Do BMED own their own slots at LHR and down route or are these BA's? Would they also continue to operate under the franchise after the take over?

[High Flyers]

BMED own the slots at LHR in there own right. I also think that thay own the route licences to the destinations they fly to.

Don't know what will happen to the franchise - one world versus star alliance?

[HZ123]

BMED have/had 8 slots at LHR.

[Tight Seat]

Re the 321s, bet Monarch would have them. Did they have some off BMI?

[DTVAirport]

Of the remaining five A321s, three are for Monarch, one of which is stored at EMA in their livery, the other two have yet to find a buyer(s).

MIDJ/K/M are the ones for Monarch.

[Chief Whip]

If this deal does go ahead, I can see GB taking the 321's from BMED along with their franchise routes and as many of their Captains as possible. GB have been recruiting a lot of F/o's of late which fits in with a large rapid expansion. And if some of BMED's management pilots come to GB as well then that would also fit with the departure of GB's ops manager? All speculation but the picture is slowly becoming clearer.

[Flightrider]

Cracking deal for bmi if they don't end up paying too much for it.

Although bmi has been taking A321s out, I can't see why they would want to get rid of the BMed ones if a) they are in medium-haul fit and b) they have a whole new raft of (ex-BMed) routes on which to fly them. The rationale (as I understand it) for bmi to get rid of its A321s was that they didn't work on LHR-AMS, EDI, GLA etc. It is something of an illogical jump to say that because the economics don't make sense on LHR-AMS/EDI/GLA, they therefore don't work on LHR-BEY/AMM/ALY etc.

I thought the BMed A321s had aux fuel tanks fitted which are a bit of a nightmare if you want to operate them in high-density config a la Monarch - didn't think you'd get all of the bags in. Happy to stand corrected on that.

BA franchise agreements have an early termination clause in the event of a hostile change of ownership of the franchisee, and it's hard to see why BD would keep it in place for anything other than a transitional period. Surely they / their Star Alliance partners would want to move the feeder traffic off BA onto their own services - I would suspect that would be one of the compelling reasons to acquire BMed in the first place.

There must also be some scope to plan the whole operation more efficiently using bmi's extensive LHR slot base and by combining the fleets. If I remember rightly, the bmi A320 which does LHR-DME-LHR doesn't do anything else in the day, and is back home by early evening. This could quite easily pick up a BMed evening departure out to the east, and another aircraft arriving in from a BMed route in the morning (using a bmi slot) could pick up the outward DME. Hey presto - one less aircraft needed. I suspect that bmi could probably find that they could save two or three A320/321s through more efficient scheduling of the combined bmi/BMed route networks and slots. Again, compelling logic for the deal; you earn the same revenue but need two less aircraft to do it.

The plus point is that fewer aircraft probably would still need broadly the same number of pilots and cabin crew due to the routes involved.

[Sonic Cruiser]

Why would GB get BMED's A321's?? Surely if BMI buy BMED then they are going to get the A321's and not get rid of them straight away.

Also BMED own the slots and the routes so again why would BMI buy another airline and then get rid of the slots to someone else?!?!

[Chief Whip]

Just speculation Sonic cruiser, but GB want to replace their 320's with 321's and if BMI/BMED want 320's instead of 321's?
As for the routes I'm sure BA will want a presence on some of the routes lost if BMED take the route license with them, so GB would be the ideal candidate.
Will have to wait and see.

[Flightrider]

If BA wants a presence on any of the routes that BMed currently flies, I imagine that they will need to fund this from within their own fleet and slots. GB isn't exactly flush with Heathrow slots and it is questionable as to whether many of the routes would financially work if flown from LGW.

Equally, some routes are constrained under the bilateral agreements with the overseas countries, and so there would not be room for BA, GB or anyone to enter certain routes alongside BMed if BMed's services remain in place with whatever name down the side of the 'plane. From memory, anyone wanting to launch services to Baku, Alexandria, Beirut, Tehran, Almaty, Ekaterinburg, Khartoum and Damascus would have problems as BMed uses the full quota of frequencies and rights available for UK carriers on its own.

Personally, I'd think that any prospect of GB having a headlong rush onto the BMed routes is pretty unlikely for the above reasons plus the rationale that if BMed has lost a fortune on many routes in the last 12 months, GB may well be wondering if they could do any better.

[Max Angle]

Oh great, whatever the pros or cons for the company I can't say I am looking forward to flying BMED's route network. 3-4 days downroute in some of the destinations they go to is not a nice thought. Had the chance to work for them some years ago and didn't just because of the work pattern and the long stays in places I would rather not be. Even more reason to follow the long line down the escape tunnel.

[aeulad]

I fly for BMED, just back from a 5 day Addis, had a ball! It is true, some of the destinations are a bit off the beaten track, but in my eyes, they are far more fascinating and adventurous than the regular long haul routes. It has taken me a year to settle into BMED, there is more of a grown-up atmosphere, but there is also an emphasis on enjoying your work and having fun down-route.

bmi have openly said that they want to expand into the medium haul market, and have been looking at Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Cairo in particular. It would seem that the aquitsition of BMED will give bmi a ready made network, with some tweaking inevitable.

One thing is for sure, nothing will change in the immediate future, and the fact that bmi is getting rid of their 321s is likely to have little baring on BMEDs long-haul configured 321s.

I have to be honest, most people at BMED want to keep flying the routes that we fly, so if there is a large portion of bmi staff that don't like the sound of what might be on offer, there will be more than enough willing from this end.

Regards

Mike

[PSYCOBFH]

Heard today;

Allegedly BMI are going to keep BMed as a separate company, (a la BMI baby & BMI Regional) to be called BMII - BMI Intercontinental. Apparently the plan is that BMII (ie BMed) will operate all medium & long haul services for the group. I had heard that the A330's will be flown by BMed/BMII pilots.

Don't know if it's true, but it does sound plausible.
Has anyone else heard anything like this?

[Dash-7 lover]

I think BMI need to revert back to British Midland asap. I'm fed up with people removing 'British' as if they're ashamed to admit. British Midland was an established identity that didn't need to change.

The general feeling im getting from others in the industry seems to be that the BMI branding is and always has been a bit of a flop as the airline lost it's identity. BMI Intercontinental seems a bit over the top for what was BMED and sounds like someone in the commercial department needs a slap!

Apart from BMI Baby which has a pretty good marketing strategy change it all back to British Midland and simplify that eratic colour scheme!

[RevMan2]

East Mids

BMI might not have the money and LH or SAS might not want to fund this purchase but BMI's Board of Directors might have the money to buy it separately and then potentially later merge the two......

bmi's Board is made up of

Sir Michael (50% plus 1 vote)
Nigel Turner
Tim Bye
LH 30% less 1 vote)
SK 20%

So either Sir Michael funds it personally or he has LH over the barrel (with the "Put/Call" options) to the extent that they have to go along with it.

I imagine an exceedingly peeved Mayrhuber presently...

[bmibaby.com]

I don't think bmi will keep BMED as a separate entity for too long, they already have three separate companies to look after (not counting cargo or charter) so adding a fourth would be too much. I'd expect to see BMED incorporated into bmi at the earliest opportunity, with the BA franchise ending also as soon as contractually possible, though I wouldn't be surprised if BA wanted to codeshare on these routes.

I can't help but agree that bmi would be well placed, as they move into the longhaul foray, to once again have a serious look at their brand, including re-establishing the kind of British style they put into the company when the trans-Atlantics were first launched.

[HZ123]

I do not like raining on anyones parade but it has all the makings of a fiscal nightmare. Both outfits have a confused identity and establishing BMI,s product (present and future) will be hard enough. It could end in tears.

[aeulad]

The change over process will take 18 months. bmi intercon.., bring it on!

Regards

Mike

[richardnei]

Heard from a BMI cabin crew member the other day that BMI are planning to re-introduce a business cabin on all routes later this year. Also crew are to get new uniforms.

What does this mean for the A319 that seat 144 PAX. Seems BMI have finally lost all sence of direction.

Brgds

Richard

[Max Angle]

Seems BMI have finally lost all sence of direction.It is completely untrue to say that we’ve finally lost direction, we lost it years ago unfortunately and are paying a heavy price. If (and as of 15:50 today it's still an "if") we take BMED over one can only hope that it will restore our sense of direction but I wouldn't bet on it.

[MaxRange120]

Just seen this info today 2nd Feb from bloggs99 on the BMED thread.
I hope this may give us a bit more info as to how things may be moving along quite soon now.

MR120

Dear Colleague
You will be aware from press comment and from briefings that we have been in talks with another airline with a view to their acquiring BMED. I am writing to you to bring you up to date with progress on these talks and to deal with some of the current rumours.
Confidentiality requirements have meant that I have not until now been in a position to confirm the identity of the airline. However we have now communicated to our shareholders that the airline in question is British Midland. We anticipate that the General Meeting of the BMED shareholders will happen today (Friday) in London, and that the shareholders will vote in favour of the sale.
I know that many of you have been concerned by the fast moving pace of events in the last few days and are worried about what the future may hold. There is also a natural sadness that, as a result of the proposed sale, BMED’s independence will come to an end.
The first thing to say is that we should all be very proud of what BMED has achieved over the last 12 years. To grow as we have done from one aircraft to eight and from one destination to 16 is a fantastic achievement built on the hard work and commitment to passenger service that has always been our hallmark. We have set a standard to which others aspire, widely recognised by the industry, our franchise partner and, most importantly, by our passengers.
In our industry change is inevitable. Naturally there are concerns, but there are also new opportunities and new challenges. I am certain that being part of a larger airline will enable us to widen our horizons and develop in directions that have been difficult in the past. In many ways British Midland’s history mirrors our own pioneering approach and I am sure that, although there will be different ways of doing things, we will have the opportunity to develop and prosper with our new owners.
Finally, can I thank all of you for your continued commitment over recent weeks. This has been a difficult period for everyone, but I believe we can now begin to move forward, proud of what we have achieved in the past, but confident in the opportunities that the future will bring.
Regards
David

[upandoffmyside]

If so - Thoughts go out to those happy souls in bmed who escaped from bmi and thought they'd never see the dark dickensian management of donington hall ever again......

[bmi expat]

From an internal communication issued to bmi staff.....

Dear Colleague

We have today announced that the bmi group holding company British Midland plc has acquired control of the Heathrow-based airline British Mediterranean (BMED). Our holding company has subscribed to new shares in BMED which will effectively give bmi a 99 percent controlling stake in the airline. In due course we plan to buy out the remaining minority shareholders.

All existing non-executive directors of BMED have today resigned their positions and I have joined their board along with Sir Michael and Tim Bye. David Richardson, chief executive of BMED will retain his position and report directly to me.

We are extremely pleased with the arrangements we have been able to agree with the current board of BMED and the majority shareholders. We have been aware for some time of the opportunity that existed at BMED but have only recently been in a position to enter into a meaningful dialogue with them.

Bringing BMED into the bmi group offers tremendous opportunities for the growth and development of our businesses. It places BMED in our family of airlines where we have a significant presence and standing in a wide range of markets. We will be creating an operation with a turnover in excess of £1 billion a year. It also enables the bmi group to accelerate its strategy of expansion into the medium-haul markets of BMED. They operate to 17 destinations in 16 countries and there is no overlap with any of our own current routes. Many of the BMED destinations have restricted access to the market due to existing bi-lateral agreements that would have taken us a considerable amount of time to gain access to. There are also a number of clear business synergies between our two organisations. Like bmi, BMED is an established Heathrow-based carrier also operating Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft with IAE engines and, like our own medium-haul product, they have a two class cabin. Improved network opportunities will also exist through our respective Heathrow operations.

The opportunity for us to expand the bmi group in this way is yet again a clear vote of confidence by the shareholders and their commitment to grow our business. BMED is a first class airline whose staff have worked hard on developing an extensive route network and a reputation for delivering an excellent product and service. I look forward to working with them to rebuild their business after some difficult times over the past few months. We have already reached an agreement with British Airways that will see the franchise agreement and any other commercial agreements that exist with BMED continuing for a transitionary period until the end of the Summer 2007 timetable.

In the short term we plan for the business to continue to operate as it does today with no immediate changes to network or structure. A comprehensive review of the business will take place over the next 30 days. For those of you not too familiar with BMED here are some interesting facts about them:

• Formally known as British Mediterranean, BMED was established as a limited company in 1994 by a group of private investors

• BMED has operated as an independent franchise partner of British Airways since 1997

• BMED flies under the British Airways brand and utilises British Airways livery and flight codes. BA is the worldwide sales agent for BMED

• BMED has a fleet of three Airbus A320 and five Airbus A321 Aircraft

• The airline flies to 17 destinations in 16 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia and has 770 employees

We start the year off with more exciting news about the bmi group and I am sure you would wish to join me in giving BMED and their staff a warm welcome into the bmi group of airlines.

Kind regards
Nigel

[eldbs]

The deal has finally been signed - bmi pulled their fingers out of their pocket and signed this afternoon.

[Mod Kit]

B limey
M ate
E e's
D one-it!:}

bmi finally going in the right direction? Medium haul instead is short haul/loco cut-throat. Comments.....

A warm welcome to all at BMED

[nwuklad76]

Mmmmm...... there are lots of us ex-bmi at Bmed. Upandoffmyside's right. I personally didnt expect to ever have to wear those awful bar jackets ever again!!!!! I wanted to burn mine when I left.:ugh:
On the plus side at least there may be some certainty for a while at Hetherington House, but then will Nigels axe start to swing?????? We all know what happened to IAD from MAN!!!

[max nightstop]

Heard today;
Allegedly BMI are going to keep BMed as a separate company, (a la BMI baby & BMI Regional) to be called BMII - BMI Intercontinental. Apparently the plan is that BMII (ie BMed) will operate all medium & long haul services for the group. I had heard that the A330's will be flown by BMed/BMII pilots.
Don't know if it's true, but it does sound plausible.
Has anyone else heard anything like this?

The way the bmi pilot agreement for service is currently written, this is not possible. bmi pilots have sole and exclusive rights to fly all bmi Group operations from LHR. Once the washing is dry there will be no such thing as a BMed pilot, or a Bmii for that matter. Going to be a fun time for BALPA!

[CrewChick]

As a bmi hostie I think it's a fabulous move and definitely in the right direction. For so long we have needed something positive. Morale at work over the last 6 months has been diabolical and this kind of change in certainly welcome.

Just need exciting new uniforms next please!!!!!!:D :)

[BMED10year]

As someone who has been at BMED for 10 years I welcome the move by BMI. I just wish that ALL my colleagues at BMED rather than just 99% were a little more positive.

BMED has much to offer, much to learn and this is almost certainly a win-win for all of us. New routes, better slots, more jobs, expansion, more experience ...

Thanks to BMI, and the people there that have welcomed us so far.
Cheers!

ps See you all in FNA, BEY, AMM, DAM, ALP, DKR, KRT, ADD, GYD, EVN, TBS, THR, ALA, FRU, ESB, HBE, SVX .....

As for BA - good riddance, crap handling, crap marketing, they missed out and have just lost 17 routes, 17 points of transfer traffic, £x million in franchise fees .... bye!!!!! We will just let you get on with your strikes! R

Roll on full-BMI at the end of the summer!

[BMED10year]

BMED pilots are some of most professional I have encountered. Not only are they well trained, fun, dont mind buying the crew a drink - they are dam fine operators! BMED pilots will no longer be brand, but they will certainly go on in style, approach (forgive the pun) and ability to make everyone on the crew feel good.

[gms1991]

If BMI are bought out by Virgin, and Virgin America gets off the ground, then VS have airlines in:

North America - Vigin America
Europe (x3) - Virgin Atlantic, BMI, BMIBaby
Middle East - BMED
Africa - Virgin Nigeria
Pacific (x2) - Virgin Blue, Virgin Pacific

Could they next become 'virgins' in South America? :}

[CrewChick]

bmi were too expensive for VS to buy out before we bought BMED

No chance of us wearing that lovely red uniform anytime in the future!!!!

YAY!:D

[lexxity]

A big welcome to all of our new collegues, welcome (back for some of you). This is certainly a turn up for the books, it's so good to see bmi doing something positive for a change!:ok:

[DTVAirport]

I think two troubled carriers just became one happy family. Excellent business move which should benefit all.

I'll be interested to see the results of the 30 day BMED business review which bmi is conducting to see where to go from here.

Regards.

[brian_dromey]

Heard from a BMI cabin crew member the other day that BMI are planning to re-introduce a business cabin on all routes later this year. Also crew are to get new uniforms.

What does this mean for the A319 that seat 144 PAX. Seems BMI have finally lost all sence of direction.


Teh A319 actually has a curtain which can be moved aft(I think it goes to about Row 9-Exit row is 10).

I think the purchase of BMED is great for bmi. I also think that BMED is not long for this world, and will be absorbed pretty quickly into bmi mainline, not too sure about the terminal situation @ LHR though.

If I were in charge of bmi, I would merge WW in as well, and bring back "BMI British Midland" branding, and yes the new uniforms would be good as well.

However HANDS OFF THE LIVERY-its the best thing about bmi, one of teh most beautiful colours seen in Europe in recent times, especially the "swoop" and the red engine tops! I like the monochrome Union Jack on the tail as well. Its a classic livery and MUST BE KEPT!

[gms1991]

Totally agree.

BMI have made the deal of the year so far!

Does anybody think that LH ans US will want codeshares?

[CrewChick]

The livery is supposed to be based on the curves of a dolphin - Elegant and Graceful

[bmibaby.com]

bmi indeed has a very attractive and eye-catching livery, which I think will help to establish the airline quickly in the new Middle Eastern market. The only problem as I see it, is the name. bmi, despite having the union flag on the tailfin, does not sound very British, and I agree that a move back to British Midland would do a lot of reestablish the airline. Not only would it reestablish the airline in the UK where it is mostly still referred to as British Midland, but abroad the airline would have a fierce sense of nationality, which I think particularly for a longhaul airline is very important.

I strongly think that this merger, alongside the drop of CDG, will be the first in a series of steps to get rid of the shorthaul network out of LHR. bmi know that mainline is being attacked at all angles by more efficient competition. That could be British Airways providing a full-service product and extensive route network. It could be easyJet or Ryanair flying from local airports with much lower cost bases. Or it could be the train, who profit from it's hassle-free city-to-city option, and it's current green image. Yields have become so eroded in bmi's traditional shorthaul markets, that I'm sure as soon as bmi have the resources and licenses, the airline will move swiftly to more medium and obscure longhaul markets.

It could also spell the beginning of warmer relations between British Airways and bmi. BA and bmi already offer passengers the opportunity to fly from Saudi Arabia to London, and then onwards, with just one ticket. BA also offers members of Executive Club to rack up air miles and tier points on bmi's Saudi flights. I can imagine BA would not like to lose the through traffic from these important markets, and would be keen for bmi to codeshare and offer through traffic from October when the franchise ends. Purely from an observer's perspective, this could work well to get bmi off of the domestic feed routes, BA operating these instead (obviously bmi keeping their slots).

I can't see bmi merging any members of the group into one umbrella brand any time soon, sadly. bmibaby has established itself north of the M25, with a visible and popular brand. The airline may well be chronically underfunded and shy of the competition, but in the markets where we are now, we're often a key player. I wouldn't be surprised to see bmibaby sold however, because it's clear that bmi are no longer interested in serving the kinds of routes that bmibaby do, and perhaps might find the baby brand dilutes that of mainline. bmi regional will have a very successful future simply doing what Midland had been doing for years, finding a niche market and providing an excellent product to attract returning customers.

[gms1991]

What will happen with the 5 A321s and other 5 on order?

BMI had got rid of the A321s from their network last year, will they change the orders with Airbus to other A320series?

For example:

5 A321s for 10 A319s
5 A321s for 5 A319s and 5 A320s
OR 5 A321s for 5 A319s and 1 A330?

In was going for the A319 because of the range of the aircraft.

I personally think they will keep the a/c for sometime to asess their performance on the routes served by BMED.

[EI-BUD]

It could also spell the beginning of warmer relations between British Airways and bmi..(said by bmibaby.com)

Bmibaby.com, I couldnt agree more. I Have felt that there has been a warming of relations between BA & Bmi of late. Although simple examples but increased interlining arrangements, the recent strike the tone of Bmi's announcement of additional services for the proposed BA strike sounded more like a cooperation rather opportunism.

It makes sense why they would cooperate and look to the future together. I think we should watch this space. Bmi will be looking at the BA strategy and how they can compete with LCCs etc. I also think that Bmi will no longer see Low Cost as core business, and reckon as I have said before bmibaby will be sold, with EZY being the leading contender to buy.

[upandoffmyside]

I'd like to add to the warm welcome to our new chums joining us from the south side of lhr.
We look forward to meeting, learning and working with you all in due course and sharing a few beers together sometime.
Preferably in better establishments than the dismal ABZ and MME hotels !
The company may appear a bit dour but I think you'll find the troops on the ground friendly and approachable with a good sense of humour....
I hope that bmed management can inject some of their relaxed friendly professionalism and decency in to bmi management operations management and liven up it up a bit with a human touch.
Here's hoping.
Meanwhile poor old BALPA, still creaking from an industrial quagmire left over from the summer will now have a host of additional issues to attend to with minimal resources.
Lets hope big Jim from New Road can give both BALPA CCs all the help and assistance they're going to need over the next few months.

[gms1991]

EI-BUD

I would LOVE EZY to take over BMIBaby. This would help MAN in many ways. Highest income LC airline in Europe buying out BMIBaby and setting up shop at the airport. Not too bad, eh?

I would be very cautious though about the takeover. EZY would enter new grounds:

:eek: Birmingham when already have East Midlands
:ok: Strengthening at East Midlands from one of BMIBaby's main bases.
:eek: Manchester when already have Liverpool
:eek: Cardiff when already have Bristol

There are also other problems:

Rome flights operated at different Italian airports
EZY having to take over Irish routes, which wouldn't go down well with FR
New Jersey and Newquay airports

Upsides:

Many of the airports currently served by BMIBaby are also on the EZY map:

Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, East Midlands, Amsterdam, Paris CDG, Prague, Geneva, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Rome, Barcelona, Palma, Alicante, Murcia, Malaga, Faro and Lisbon are all served by both airlines.

This would surely mean EZY would have the most UK bases out of any carrier in Britain:

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, East Midlands, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted!

That would mean you are never more than 1 1/2 hours away from an EZY base! Amazing!:D

[bmibaby.com]

It's interesting that an off-hand comment about bmi potentially selling bmibaby to raise funds for their mediumhaul expansion and moving away from the no-frills market, has suddenly flowered into an in depth look at the potential of EasyJet buying bmibaby. As far as I can tell, the two airlines have very little commonality, with the exception of similar route networks (frankly Jersey and the Irish routes would go immediately whilst Rome would move to CIA.) EasyJet are trying to get rid of the Boeing 737-300 which makes up the backbone of our fleet, indeed many of the "new" 733s now pottering about our fleet are geriatrics that EasyJet have retired. To suddenly take on our complex labour relations, a second head office with considerable British Midland overheads, bases which are too close together and a geriatric fleet, I don't see how on earth we'd be appealing to EZY, who following the Go merger have sworn by organic growth. With their successful business model, attractive new uniform and very efficient fleet, I wouldn't be opposed to an EZY bid for bmibaby, but I don't think they'll be knocking on our door any time soon.

[gms1991]

Exactly right.

Introducing bases too close together and using a/c that have already been sold becasue of their age is not a very clever idea.

Stroll on BMIBaby! Working well in the Midlands, Wales and Manchester!

[bmibaby.com]

The important thing to remember whilst we all speculate over the future direction of bmi, is that at this time, bmibaby are not up for sale. The airline is doing pretty well for the bmi group, keeping a presence in the no-frills market place, but the airline is very vulnerable to competition, which is increasingly establishing itself in all of baby's markets. If bmi are keen to move back to being a quality, high-yielding airline, then it makes sense for them to sell bmibaby at a profit and focus on bmi's new mediumhaul and longhaul stategy at LHR and bmi regional's strategy of high yielding business routes and niche charter markets. Strategically, there would of course be some benefits to an EasyJet purchase of bmibaby. EZY have a high number of Airbuses on order that they have to put somewhere, already have experience of the B733 which would have to be used short term, and are an established brand in baby's markets. WW has shown it's possible to operate BHX/EMA alongside each other as successful bases, but I can imagine that Manchester & Cardiff would probably be closed down because of very successful bases just up the road to each of them. However, it would be a major distraction EZY could probably live without.

[scotsunflyer]

On flights out of LHR, I think Bmi should go back to the same as BA and offer refreshments. No need for meal, maybe except in business class, but at least free tea/coffee/soft drinks free in economy, with just a snack like pretzels or shortbread. Alcohol charge for, or possibly free.

Bring back the bmi we know, a quality airline, that offers good schedules and good service, and a good alternate to BA.

[Smile!!!]

Well, does the airline really need to be run in such an inefficent way Little Blue? I mean a LO-CO should have a streamlined operation, I am sure with a takeover, most jobs would be transferred, or maybe if a foreign plyer, they may be all kept, if there is a bit of an increase in the PAX numbers using ww, with a larger fleet. Anyway the UK we live in not the continent, jobs protectionism isnt that great at all, one of the joys of a free market. LB.

[lexxity]

Bring back the bmi we know, a quality airline, that offers good schedules and good service, and a good alternate to BA.

Hear, hear!

:D :D :D

[BHDflyer]

I miss those pretzils in the wee white packets:sad: . If bmibaby are low cost and charge for refreshments then whats the point in bmi? And another thing, on the bmi routes that don't have a businnes cabin, instead you pay virtually the same price for a premium economy fare, but no free food! They do let you in to the businnes lounges if your premium economy though, but it means you have to pinch all the nibbles and shove them in your handbag so that you won't pay over the odds on the plane! bmi need to go back to just economy and business fares like they were before August 2005, that, to me, would be the bmi I know. And they need to take the charges off the refreshments.

[EI-BUD]

I have been reading all the comments about the whole idea of EZY or anyone else for that matter buying WW. Ok, if it happened they would be have to inherit some old 737s and merge a different work culture of some sorts into EZY, but this they have done before with Go.

EZY would not worry at all about the aircraft, as they could convert to 319s in no time at all.

The bases in some cases may conflict with local EZY ones. Eg BRS v CWL, LPL v MAN , BHX v EMA etc. However, for eg Manchester and Liverpool can provide enough Business and leisure travellers for each airports business even for 1 airline, in a nut shell what I mean is that neighbouring bases would not threaten each other. Luton has many duplicate services from LTN & STN with EZY and there is no problem.

As regards flying Irish routes from the UK if they took over WW, i cant see FR challenging them on existing routes. When EZY arrived at STN FR didnt launch the same routes for the most part. The two airlines dont actually serve many exact same airport pairs except a few from STN and a few elsewhere. They did react on LGW routes to NOC ORK & SNN but that was new business. What does anyone else think ?

It's an interesting thought that was posted about AB being the likely buyer( assumiong that there is a buyer) . Although there is no facts on the idea of Bmibaby being sold alot of people that are on here and alot of ppl I have spoken to especially at bmi think that bmibay is not being viewed as core to the new strategy.

We will wait & see.

[bmibaby.com]

EI-BUD, thank you for a balanced and well-informed post. As you mentioned, and I stated earlier up in the thread, bmibaby currently are not up for sale, and I am not aware of bmi unofficially putting out a tender to see how much we'd be worth or who might be interested in buying us. However, following the purchase of BMED and the expansion of bmi regional, it seems that the bmi group are now going after niche high yielding markets, realising that their core market of a decade ago being a second player to BA in shorthaul trunk routes, now belongs to EasyJet. They also have to contend with a more efficient BA (though admittedly the last six months haven't really shown this) and a more efficient and environmentally-aware rail network. bmibaby are in the unfortunate situation that our geriatric fleet of aircraft and our spartan route network are all predominantly in low yielding markets where if the fare isn't low, the passenger will either fly the competition or not travel. Simply baby doesn't have the leadership or cost structure to concentrate on this market the same way that an airline like EasyJet or Ryanair can. Though EasyJet have publicly stated they plan for all of their growth to be organic, I think the reason they've been mentioned as an ideal suitor to bmibaby, is because both companies serve primary airports, and bmibaby uses EasyJet's cast-off B733s. EMA/BHX are just up the road from each other, but serve completely different markets, similar to LTN & STN. I'm not so sure EasyJet would be keen to stay at CWL given that their BRS base just up the road is growing successfully, and CWL is really the dustbowl of baby's operations. Manchester, I'm unsure of. EasyJet have been to MAN before to look round, but I wonder if the considerable other low-cost competition (Thomsonfly, Jet2, Monarch Scheduled, Flybe) might put them off.

[flyer55]

Now will BMI keep BMEDs routes ?

[LGS6753]

"Outline and explain the strategy being implemented by the BMI group."

An impossible question.

To answer some of the questions posed on this thread from a business point of view.
First, why would EZY purchase BMIbaby? They have already outlined their strategy, which is to grow organically. Acquisitions are expensive and time-consuming and far more fail than succeed. If EZY wanted to build their business quicker, they wouldn't have offloaded their first 'new' 737s. They have plenty of aircraft on order which are efficient, low-maintenance, and planned. If they bought anyone else they would get older, less reliable, less efficient aircraft for their money. No brand is stronger than EZY, so they have little to gain from buying an established brand. (I would imagine EZY is as well known in Birmingham and Cardiff as baby). If they want specific routes, they could compete with baby, charge £0, win the battle, and consolidate their gains - cheaper than acquiring!
(And remember, the Go acquisition was made when EZY were far smaller than now).

Second, what will BMI do with BMED? Answer, get out of the BA franchise asap. It doesn't add much where BMED is the only UK based operator on the route, and the alternative is a rusty Tu154 operated by someone you've never heard of. (OK, a slight exaggeration). Keep up all the routes. Price the tickets for profit. Lots of the destinations served by BMED are used by business people on expenses, so they won't be in a hurry to save cash or fly in a rusty Tu154!

Third, what is the strategy again?

- Regional - Business orientated, full-service UK regional airline with Barbie Jets operating short hops (could be BA Connect in drag?).

- Baby - cherry-picking routes for profit but operating at a disadvantage against more efficient, better-funded rivals such as FR and EZY.

- BMED - High-yield, protected city routes with limited competition. Cash cow. Go for it!

- Mainline - Competing against an improving BA on a small range of LHR routes with a historically better service that has been devalued.

If I were Michael Bishop, I'd ditch baby as soon as possible (but EZY won't be a buyer), concentrate on Regional, going for ex- BACON routes where they are dropped, milk BMED's lucrative routes, and keep mainline for the value of its LHR slots.

And if anyone at BMI wants to offer me a job in strategy, send me a pm!!

[teifiboy]

A330 off to BMED side perhaps?

[lostinBRU]

BMED - High-yield, protected city routes with limited competition. Cash cow. Go for it!


It may have been true once, but less so as time goes on............

Once upon a time our only competetion would have been the local lot flying a Yak/Tupolev etc...

Nowadays, even the locals have modern equipment and we have western competition from our own Star Alliance colleagues e.g. Lufty.

Ok, admittedly not from LHR, but a large chunk of our business, (and the reason we are/were a BA franchise) is that we continue the journey for transatlantic pax. If your journey starts in USA/Canada you really don't care if you change at London/Paris/Amsterdam/Frankfurt............ Who's going to give you the best service?

The Caspian oil field has given great business over the last 5 years or so, but the pipeline is now complete and Baku is changing..... However, there are other oil/gas fields emerging though so it really needs a marketing team who have got their eye on the ball to meet demand as it develops and get in ahead of the competition. Ditto Africa.

We were a profitable Company not too long ago. But, focus and strategy got sloppy in an extremely volatile market. New management came in a year ago and a broom was swept through a lot of the upper levels to great effect. But unfortunately, a weak company, hit with a double whammy of its sure fire winner (Beriut) plunged into war and the fuel crisis, took us to the brink.

If the wheels are to be believed, they reckon we have a cost base comparable to Easy and Ryan and that's what the BMI Board found attractive (amongst other things).

So, whilst I'm grateful to BMI for my job, I believe it's a two way street. We can certainly bring something to the table and I for one, am looking forward to the challenge. :D

I don't know how the integration of crews (if any) will happen, but I would suggest that you cast aside any pre-conceived ideas you have about our destinations if you come our way! There are challenges but you WILL have a good time :cool:

[LHRKLBD]

"BMI staff travel are apparently not booking manchester - barbados after may 07.

they are telling staff will be re-routed via London.

anyone know whats going on?"

There is plans in the pipe line that they are moving the BGI route to LHR cause it has more oppertunites from LHR once BW have move out of LHR.

[EI-BUD]

LGS6753, I read your post re: the strategy of bmi.

Overall I would say you are very close to the mark. However, you said that EZY's strategy would be to 'grow organically', this sounds great but I have to say that if opportunities present themselves many general strategies are sidelined. Case to point out is at FR , MOL had said the same thing pre BUZZ takeover.

You also said 'No brand is stronger than EZY, so they have little to gain from buying an established brand', well I have to say that If Easyjet bought another airline it would be rebranded EZY so this issue would be irrelevant, bmibaby brand would disappear if it was taken over????

Jet2 are coming along nicely and in my view it willl take FR or EZY to contain them. they are boasting about being No.1 operator at MAN. Quite an achievement for a small carrier like LS .

In my view its only a matter of time before either EZY or FR get the deal that they want at MAN . Once BA Connect are gone MAN airport management have new agenda. What does anyone else think ?

[LHRKLBD]

Does anyone know where Bmed will fly from out of LHR ?

I know they are T4 at the moment, however will they move to T1 when bmi take control ?

From what I understand Bmed and bmi will be different departments, and there isn't enough stands at T1 for the flights as it is so ading exta a/c may be abit of fun.

[point5]

There'll be plenty of free stands in T1 early next year!

[keepitlit]

if you feel in the dark now just wait till you hear all the news from toad hall
(or lack of it) welcome to mushroom airways:ok:

rgds

K,I,L,

[riptack]

Any plans to expand on the DUB service from LHR and maybe try ORK?! Now that they have an Irish website and brand recognition they might as well make the most of it! :)

[MarkD]

ORK would be nice indeed for AC-BD transfer!

[Smile!!!]

The bmibaby 4th Aircraft is going the Birmingham!

The airline, which has been embarking on a prolific expansion programme at Birmingham International, will base an additional Boeing 737 aircraft at the airport taking its total fleet to nine. Capacity will increase by a staggering 80% year on year.

Increase on schedules at CWL means that they will keep their 3rd aircraft. There will be a new 4 weekly route to Murcia, also there the BFS 2xDaily schedule is move to a more Biz friendly schedule.

Scotland also sees a major expansion-
More daily flights for business travellers from Edinburgh and Glasgow International to the Midlands
bmibaby, the award winning airline with tiny fares and the largest operator of services from Scotland to the Midlands has today (Friday 16 February 2007) announced further development on its network from Scotland.
From September 2007, bmibaby will be increasing the number of daily flights from Edinburgh to Birmingham International to five a day with early morning departures at 7am and 8.45am, offering real choice for the business traveller. Combined with the three times daily service to East Midlands Airport this makes a total of 46 flights per week offered by the airline from Edinburgh to the Midlands.
The airline will also be increasing the number of daily flights from Glasgow International to Birmingham to four services a day. This combined with the current four times daily service from Glasgow International to East Midlands makes a total of 41 flights per week offered by the airline from Glasgow International to the Midlands.


So, this years expansion is complete, schedules are full, except for BHX. There, who knows if there will be more routes. But good news for BHX and CWL. Nothing for EMA, and MAN.

Smile!!!

[OltonPete]

Smile

BHX appears to have one spare slot early morning between 26/5/07 and
2/9/07 when Edinburgh gets the last "new" aircraft. Okay it appears
it will be operating through BHX for virtually all of the day :) and only
N/S EDI.

I assume a couple more new routes for BHX - any ideas bmibaby.com?

I'm glad Cardiff have maintained the third aircraft and hopefully come
2008 it will increase.

I thought BHX might get CDG, with BMI pulling off the LHR (slots) and flybe/BACON in a total mess at Brum. Milan would be another
destination for baby at BHX if they had the aircraft available.

Nothing at Manchester, again I suppose it is aircraft availability
(or should I say funds to purchase).

OP

[Smile!!!]

Well OltonP, I said BHX had some holes in it. Wheteher they will just sit on the ground doing nothing, or what is unknown too me. It is a bit late to be realesing the rest of their summer schedule later than this.

And the reason for little expansion I dont see mainly as funds. More like the bmi family board room (By that I mean mainly SMB) is like a pre Margaret Thatcher Conservative Cabinet. The only sounds that show life are muffled coughs of geriatric fools. That incapable of running a airline in this 21st centuary theatre means they are only going one way, ... down.

I mean the UKs 3rd largest LO-CO carrier that flys the UK flag (Basically not including RYR) now that Jet2 are the 2nd. And WW are not going too be third for long. I mean how long before Globespan, or some other poor outfit overtake the baby (Not even including TOM), that needs to do a bit of growing up.

The airline really does need a buyout too secure jobs, and the airlines future, as either WW or some other carrier brand. Like a post I made prior about Air Berlin, who I thought would be the best airline too buy WW out, the WW posts diminished after the BMed affair. A losing money carrier with incompetant managemnt buying a losing money outfit? Well it can only lose money cant it. (No question mark here inteneded as practically guarented)

Hope my post has been informative and usefull too you all, Smile!!!

[a1234]

Regarding the recent developments by bmibaby and their obsession with BHX (all 4 a/c are there now) wouldn't it be more appropriate to rename the airline 'birmingham baby' as they seem to care very little about their other bases especially CWL where they have been happy to ramp up PMI to one day but have left thousand of business pax in lurch by downgrading GLA. bmibaby are a joke!

[Get me some traffic]

MME could have told you that!

[Aerial Anarchist]

exactly what they have done- missed it! A real shame .

[OltonPete]

Topslide6 - Spot on.

The only criticism you could level at Baby is the length of time they have
taken to do it but there are probably multiple reasons for that.

Examine Baby's record at BHX, how many flights have they pulled?

Basically one in two years (Newquay) and that for a LoCo is not bad.
Whatever the shortcomings there are in the BMI group the one aspect
at the moment which does stand up to scrutiny is the Baby BHX strategy. As I have said on several occasions they are slaughtering
the opposition pax wise, I just hope they are making some money.

OP

[mathers_wales_uk]

I hope that next year will see more a/c purchased by bmibaby and possibly an extra a/c based at CWL, to add more frequency on busy routes expand add more new routes.

It sounded like it was a close call on where to base the last a/c and that they wanted to give FlyBe a fight at BHX, With the added route of Murcia and added frequency this year on Bucket and Spade routes, could be testing the waters for further expansion at CWL in 08?

BmiBaby must be aware of the rumours speculating about Thomson leaving BRS and going to CWL, and must be aware that FlyBe are having a look at CWL. I Bet the reason that they changed the BFS times to business friendly was to take on FlyBe which are operating a Belfast City daily from June.

[SKYHOOK]

Hope my post has been informative and usefull too you all, Smile!!!
Well its certainly informative, it tells me that you are either 6 or clueless about the airlines you so confidently spout on about.
When you eventually leave school I hope you have a better grasp of English:rolleyes:

[aeulad]

I think BMED was planning Lahore, maybe has somethnig to do with that.

Regards

Mike

[LHRKLBD]

Stupid question, with what a/c would we use on these routes ?

[FlyZB]

I think the decision to base the 4th new a/c at BHX was a sensible, if not slightly predictable one. Success at BHX is baby's last hope of becoming a big player in the LOCO stakes. But what will happen at their other bases? Are baby in danger of becoming a one trick pony, highly successful at BHX but nothing but a fringe airline elsewhere?

EMA & MAN used to be their 2 biggest bases a few years ago with the potential to be huge had they been on the ball. Particularly at MAN where they were the only true low cost carrier for a number of years (ZB was still full service back then, TOM was still BY and LS were unheard of this side of the pennines). Yet growth of at these bases has been more or less stagnent and they have been overtaken by FR and EZY at EMA and by ZB, LS and TOM at MAN and don't seem too interested in even trying to compete. I reckon they've still got the chance to make things happen at CWL but only if they pull their finger out soon and really focus on trying to make this base work.

I know for a fact that they are popular ex MAN and do very well on the routes that they do operate. Is it a case of they are scared of competing against what they perceive as bigger players or are they simply happy enough to live in the shadows of their rivals and achieve success on the few routes they do have?

Will baby ever be a big operator out of MAN, EMA & CWL or will they just sit back and be content with what they've got?

[mathers_wales_uk]

Why on earth has BmiBaby pulled a popular all year round route to Prague for a bucket and spade flight to murcia.

I'm sure that to qualify for saying that theres further developments at CWL is to actually add flights and routes not replace them.

BmiBaby really needs to pull their finger out and be a bit adventurouse, their no longer a Baby now they established theirselves at Cardiff and were the biggest airline at the airport. But now they have been taken over by Thomsons. If they don't base an extra a/c at CWL next year with new routes and bring back PRG then i think Thomson will push them out and go to town.

And was looking at their prices for ALC Jun07
BmiBaby - £170.20 RETURN PP (Based on 5 people)
Thomson - £166.76 RETURN PP (Based on 5 People)

Effective from the 29th of Nov 06 there was a charge for checked-in luggage on BmiBaby of £2.50 online or £5.00 at check-in each way.

This has now gone up to £3.00 online or £6.00 at check-in. How much money does this so called lo-cost carrier want from the consumer? It better be worth it for passengers flying from CWL.

Sort it out Baby and start treating CWL like a propper base and start expanding properly.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Some MIGHT notice that this thread has been VERY heavily moderated. It should not take a professor of common sense to understand why.

It certainly wastes our time and I suggest that you think very carefully before you post OR in which forum your post should be.

The mods

[a1234]

mathers_wales_uk

bmibaby don't care about cwl now, if they are content with GLA 1*daily leaving thousands of business pax in lurch and with no alternative to BRS(myself being one of them) and then going and pulling PRG altogether knowing that this is infact a popular route then this just goes to show that CWL was just a springboard to greater name recognition. But instead of other carriers coming in to take on baby at CWL, the fact is that baby can do what they like here because no one is bothering to fight them which makes it all the worse that baby are pulling core routes.

[chrism20]

and pulling PRG altogether knowing that this is infact a popular route



It may be popular, but if the yield is poor it's ditched. And yield is what it's all about, especially with LCC's

[chrism20]

Following press release has appeared on BMI website today


bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is to launch a new customer initiative focusing on the business traveller following eight months of consultation and feedback with both customers and staff.
The initiative, which goes live on 2 April, will see the introduction of an improved offering and product for the airline’s most loyal customers – diamond club members. While a paid-for in-flight catering service will remain a feature of mainline services from Heathrow, all diamond club members* will be entitled to complimentary food and drink onboard, priority seating towards the front of the aircraft and will continue to enjoy the benefits of one of the UK’s most generous frequent flyer programmes, through the lounge network and rewards scheme.
Under the new initiative diamond club will see the introduction of a new tier – blue plus – which is automatically awarded once 3,000 status miles have been earned in a 12 month period. Holders of blue plus, silver and gold cards will receive the complimentary in-flight meal as well all other diamond club benefits.
Nigel Turner, bmi chief executive officer, said: “We know that our most important customers are frequent flyers who often travel with us on business – a group that makes up a considerable proportion of our total passengers. They are looking for value for money, friendly welcoming service and want to be recognised and rewarded. Our new initiative delivers on all these points as well as helping to set out the future direction of the company, building on key strengths such as market-leading punctuality and a quick and efficient airport experience.
“Whilst our focus is on the business traveller we will continue to apply our ‘making travelling a pleasure’ ethos to all our passengers, whatever their purpose of travel. Customer feedback shows us time and time again that our people make bmi the preferred choice of airline, and significant investment in ongoing training will ensure that continues to be the case for all our customers.
“The airline industry has been through a period of massive change in the past five years – a process that continues today. By developing and evolving our products and services we can ensure we continue to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers and remain competitive in the marketplace.”

Also BMIbaby are to join the diamond club in the near future.

It's sad that the BOB service is remaining but certainly a step forward for BMI

[goldeneye]

bmi Regional are launching 6x weekly flights from Leeds Bradford to Lille. The first direct service from the Uk.

[SWBKCB]

On the face of it this seems an odd choice - anybody know the thinking behind it i.e. are there any particular links such as industry?

[DTVAirport]

So basically, they're bringing back business class, even if they didn't directly refer to it as that (for obvious reasons).

I think bmi finally decided their direction in life...

[DTVAirport]

I'm confused as a newt.

[mathers_wales_uk]

The majority of the new benefits have been available at CWL for a while now, except for the business points and the ability to alter the return journey on the day of travel free of charge if it's earlier or £35 if it's later.

The problem with this at CWL is that it wouldn't be possible for the business passengers to go on a later or earlier flight because there isn't one as theres only twice daily to EDI, BFS and only once Daily to GLA. (Except for fridays where EDI is 3 x daily)

So really not much of a change for CWL. What would the benefits be for the points?

[PPRuNe Pop]

MR210.

Why don't you just invite BMI to take space on this forum? It would help the cost of running PPRuNe but DO NOT put their ads on here.

This has all be posted at the top of this forum for over a week now.

Have a rest while you consider.

PPP

[en2r]

Baby should take note. Flyme, a Swedish airline has gone bankrupt. They operated 7 737s. Surely Baby should try to get at least one or two of them to expand their bases at Cardiff/EMA/Manchester or to set up the rumoured new base at Edinburgh.

[GBALU53]

Three of the 737s were ex Asteraus so they could revert to British registraion tomorrow.
I would think they would be available for British carriers very quickly, with the summer around the corner not if one looks out of the window today very wet aircraft might be at a premium

Well maybe Flybe will take them back on in view of there problems with the Embraer so Baby act quickly.

[jet2_at_blk]

Could LS jump in for the 733s? Currently have 2 Futura 734s for the summer, along with other aircraft. Could the 733s be taken instead of the 734s? Afterall, the 733s would fit better into the LS fleet as they are exactly the same as their current fleet!

Any thoughts, or should this be in the LS post?:O

[mmeteesside]

The 734's are to replace the 752's that were lost (due to them requiring too much work to get them serviceable again?) so replacing them with 733's would be another step down.

[jet2_at_blk]

Cheers. I understand now.

[mmeteesside]

Anyone know whats happening with the MME route during the summer......amadeus shows 4x daily with the early morning from LHR and late evening back being operated by an ERJ145, meaning that the ERJ is sat at MME from 0730 til 2150 each day. Everything else is A319/320 operated, anyone know what they're thinking/planning :confused:

[DTVAirport]

Well I'm not sure what they'll do with the ERJ, but I think the reason they've extended the 4x daily into the summer is because the open skies agreement between the US and EU is one step closer to completion that previous failed attempts, therefore they might be hanging on in the hope that they'll be able to use the slots to launch LHR-USA routes. Just a theory though.

[Airbanda]

bmi Regional are launching 6x weekly flights from Leeds Bradford to Lille. The first direct service from the Uk
Appreciate the claim to first UK/Lille service is a quote from the press release but is it actualy correct? IIRC Lesquin was linked to LHR in seventies/eighties.
As to commercial rationale possibly some sort of fast link via the TGV to Paris?.
Seem to be a few connections to French speaking Africa!!!

[mathers_wales_uk]

Does anyone know if BmiBaby will actually put a bid in for any o the a/c?

:ok:

[LHRKLBD]

The BD330 / BD345 are probably and EMB145 cause at the mo they only ever have 10 or 15 people on board.

The flights exists cause its the old LHR/BOM/LHR solts which they are trying to keep active.

[jet2impress]

The Futura 734's were planned before the 2 x 752's were dropped. From what I remember, they wanted 3 x 733's to enter the fleet this year. Not sure why that did not happen, so I guess the 2 Futuras and the 146 at NCL are their replacements.

[Pembo330]

According to another thread, all of the MME/LHR flights will be on JJs. Which means the aircraft won't be sat around @ MME all day.

[DTVAirport]

Forgive my ignorance but what is "JJs"?

[Scottie Dog]

JJ = Jungle Jet (Brazilian Jungle = Amazon Jet) = Embraer Jet

[DTVAirport]

No surprises really, although I want to know the plans for the BMED A321s, are they keeping or getting rid? Perhaps it says in the article and I have missed it?

[SADDLER]

Yip you missed it, which is forgiveable in that fairly long article.BMI are keeping the current aircraft and the aircraft on order are planned to be kept.

[True Blue]

Is there any truth in the rumour on another forum that Bd are looking at their ops in Belfast? It was stated that
1. Bd may continue at Bhd and increase services to Lhr plus move WW to bhd.
2. Bd to move back to Bfs and expand there.

True Blue

[bmibaby.com]

I had heard that bmi were looking at moving all bmi group operations to Belfast City, considering that Jet2 and EasyJet have now sown up BFS and that flybe are competing on many of our services to the more efficient BHD, but these rumours have been around for some time, and considering BHD's more restrictive operations, doubt we'll see any move any time soon. There was also a rumour that the Belfast-Manchester route might be moved to bmi regional from baby.

[True Blue]

In a recent article, about Jan 07, in the Belfast Telegraph Business section, Bmibaby chief exec was quoted as saying that WW were looking at expanding services out of Belfast, including new routes and increasing frequency on existing routes He seemed to hint that international routes were s serious contender. Any views?

BTW, if they were considering taking all WW to Bhd, I don't know how they would physically cope.

True Blue

[chrism20]

Anyone know how bookings are going for the new mainline route to Jersey and the new regional routes?

[GBALU53]

Well chrism20
When BMI were in Jersey last week for a VIP PRO Mo flight they did a presentation and one of them items was. They are very pleased with the forward bookings higher than expected.
So on that basis looking good route feel fine.:ok:

[LHRKLBD]

Well open skies is here so where in the states is BMI likely to fly to I would like to see the following:

LHR/JFK
LHR/MCO
LHR/BOS
LHR/MIA
LHR/MSP

:D

[DTVAirport]

It would be too difficult for me to speculate on where they may go, although I think JFK is a dead cert...in fact, I think a trip to Ladbrokes is in order on that one.

They will have to be very careful indeed though, because a lot of airlines are going to open up new LHR-USA routes and the competition will be fierce, there will be a price war, and it could get very ugly very fast for some of the airlines involved.

[Skipness One Echo]

What will BMI with a flight each day bring to the market? The front end requires a couple of flights per day at least so I guess MAN-US gets dumoed PDQ.
I reckon it will Mumbai all over again.

[Mod Kit]

My comments are from a 'would like' rather than potentially viable point of view. I would love to see bmi compete against BA/Delta on a LHR-ATL route. I have travelled with both BA & bmi and feel the on board service with bmi is far superior, especially in 'the business'. BA load factor, especially in the summer, always seems to be very very good. Overbooked in economy, world traveller and usually full in club. Apologies if I have the cabin descriptions wrong :)

What are the thoughts from those of you in the know!!!!

[goldeneye]

Really cant see BMI launching an MCO from LHR, the LON - MCO/SFB route is already very well served with VS having upto 3x daily flights from LGW, BA 1x daily, numerous charters to SFB and the connections with US, UA, AA, MP, NW, DL, FI, CO, AC etc.

NYC and BOS are prob a dead cert as no Star carriers serve this direct from LHR

[MaxRange120]

For a better idea of what may really happen this item is in todays Observer gives a view of bmi plans after open skies.
MR120:ok:
Whitehall sources have indicated that the deal, which allows all EU carriers to fly to the US, will mean some will switch capacity from domestic routes to the US, 'squeezing out' links to UK regions.
Government officials are concerned airlines such as BMI will switch their Heathrow take-off and landing slots from routes serving the regions to US routes in search of higher revenues.
BMI chief executive Nigel Turner said he expected to switch domestic routes to the US when the 'open skies' deal comes into effect next spring. He said BMI is likely to start with three flights a day, possibly to Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolina or New York. BMI plans to buy another three Airbus A330 planes to service the routes. The airline is looking to expand US routes in future.
Turner said: 'Inevitably there will be some reduction in short-haul flying' and added that increases to air passenger duty, which is levied on each take-off and landing in the UK, would mean UK regional routes would be the most likely to be re-allocated.
He added that BMI would look to reduce business-class fares across the Atlantic by some 10 per cent and ruled out any sale of its Heathrow slots.

[Railgun]

I think you have it in one. Open skys will be the killing of BMI not the making. The brand is not strong enough overseas. :D

[Flightrider]

I'm not sure I'd say that it will be the "killing of them" as I think that's a bit melodramatic. However, if rumours are true that bmi has sold all of BMed's slots to BA as part of the price for BA's short-term assent to the deal, then they will probably need to rob five or six short-haul slots a day to keep the BMed network flying; and then another three for their transatlantic aspirations.

That's nine a day. One can't help but think that this doesn't look like good news for the Embraer-operated routes ex LHR like TeesSide and Hannover, which would presumably be the first ones to be axed.

[LHRKLBD]

All the bmed slots haven't been sold off BMI gain control of them on the 28th Oct.

[Flightrider]

Err no - bmi already have full control of BMed and the routes including the bilateral clearances to fly to places like Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia etc will be operated under bmi branding from October. However, bmi has sold some (if not all) of the runway slots at Heathrow originally held by BMed to British Airways. It needed BA's agreement for BMed to continue operating the routes as a BA franchisee for Summer 2007 (there is a change of ownership clause in franchise agreements which gives BA the right to terminate ASAP if the ownership of a franchisee passes into "unfriendly" hands) and the price of getting that agreement was apparently selling a load of LHR slots to BA.

The BMed routes are therefore passing to bmi, but that doesn't automatically mean that the Heathrow slots currently used to fly them will follow.

[DTVAirport]

I like the bit about 3 more A330s, could this be them finally getting back the Emirates one, as well as two more? I doubt it like, they'll probably convert 3 of the 4 A332 options they have, although I doubt that as well, as they have probably expired, so, will they purchase 3 new ones, or source 3 second hand ones? I would have thought the second hand A330 market would be almost non-existant.

[take_that]

If BMI sold the BMed slots to BA, what exactly did BMI buy and why didn't BA just asset strip BMed themselves? After all nearly everything of BMed is leased therefore the main things that BMed have are established routes (albeit quite thin on certain ones), crews (again thinning with the prospect of operating 4 sector days) and the slots. Therefore unless they resold the slots on for a significant amount more than they acquired the company for, the deal seems uneconomical for BMI:confused:

[LHRKLBD]

i believe there coming from AF.

An internal memo within bmi states that all bmed slot belong to bmi now. They haven't meniond anything about selling them on.

[Flightrider]

The main benefit for bmi appears to be access to BMed's markets under the restrictive arrangements in place between the UK and countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan etc. For example, UK carriers can only offer seven flights per week to Baku, three to Almaty etc - and BMed holds the full quota of rights available, which means that no other UK airline can enter the routes and compete with them.

BA would have almost certainly faced an OFT / Takeover Panel enquiry if it had bought BMed itself. In this way, it has obtained what it really wants - more LHR slots - without needing to go through any of the hassle of regulatory clearances for the deal.

BMed slots do indeed belong to bmi at the moment, but there is nothing to stop them selling them onwards at any time to suit. Doing so has no bearing on the routes and aircraft - for example, you could quite happily use former BMed route rights, aircraft and crews to operate a daily service to Tehran using a bmi runway slot previously used for LHR-Paris or something like that.

[lamina]

I've had enough of idiots on this site, goodnight flightrider.

[Flightrider]

Your choice to ignore the comments and I don't see what is idiotic about them. You and I have had previous exchanges before on this site about bmi slots, and I don't think I've been wrong (yet) on this subject. That said, there is always a first time. Can I suggest that you ask Nigel Turner whether there is any deal (either already complete or in the offing) to sell any/all BMed Heathrow slots to BA and let me know his answer?

The route rights were the key thing that bmi wanted from BMed. bmi already has enough LHR slots and the deal with BA will offset a large part of the funding that bmi had to inject into BMed at the time of the deal's completion. It is actually quite a smart way forward for bmi and I can't see any grounds for being critical of its actions.

[lamina]

Flightrider
OK hands up, that was very harsh. But I was tired and was half way through my third malty ale.
No time now to post a full reply but I do get annoyed when people dress up speculation as fact.
But please accept my apologies for the tone of my post.

[Ringwayman]

New route for bmi regional announced today - the former BAConnect service from Manchester to Lyon. Starts 25th May and operates daily.

[airhumberside]

Arebmi still planning on doing EDI/MAN-SOU?

[Flightrider]

They are apparently still thinking about SOU but other things might overtake that on the priority list of things to do.

An article has just appeared in the Times Online to say that bmi has apparently sold 51 weekly Heathrow slots to BA for £30m.

It is rather a coincidence on two fronts:

51 is exactly the number of weekly slots held by BMed at Heathrow this summer.

The purchase price of £30m bears a striking similarity to the amount that bmi paid for BMed.

[LHRKLBD]

Seems a bit redundant. all they really get is the routes (which they now have to use their own slots so somethings gonna get chopped). also 8 plus an extra 5 a/c.

[Flightrider]

Article is available on Times Online (don't need to subscribe to read it). I won't post the link at the risk of being banned at the whim of the mods!

[MaxRange120]

Flightrider, I have also seen the times on line article,this is just one of a number of bmi related items in the press at the moment as interest in LHR operations post open skies takes hold.The SAS stake in bmi and what they may do with it is also doing the rounds in the press today.
On the other hand there has also been a press item claiming that bmi are talking to Varig about buying up some of the LHR slots that they hold in a grey market trade off.
Or that bmi is going to cut back some of the domestic operations into LHR to free up LH slots for 3 new routes to the U.S in Spring 2008
So all in all the next few weeks will be a bit of a rollercoaster ride as the industry takes it all in.
But by Spring 2008 at LHR all change, I just hope for all at bmi its for the better.
MR120:ok:

[Flightrider]

Yes, although the difference seems to be that this is now a "hard" article discussing a definitive event rather than other more general pieces about bmi ownership which seem to rely on a level of conjecture. It also looks to confirm my earlier postings about a slot sale by bmi of the BMed LHR slots to BA.

BMI would have a very hard job buying Heathrow slots off Varig. Varig lost its slots at Heathrow and they were re-allocated by the coordinator - if my memory serves me well, they were given to Virgin Atlantic for its launch of services to Nairobi.

[MrBenip]

Congrats on your speculation Flightrider! I do hope LAMINA will eat shed loads of humble pie now!! Now what was that about idiots?
Ha Ha :D

[MaxRange120]

Flightrider, I agree with your views in your two previous posts.
It is rather a coincidence on two fronts:
51 is exactly the number of weekly slots held by BMed at Heathrow this summer.
The purchase price of £30m bears a striking similarity to the amount that bmi paid for BMed.
If this is now to be considered as a "hard" article discussing a definitive event there do seem to be contradictions within it.
BMI recently bought a British Mediterranean Airways, a BA franchise airline, for £30m. British Mediterranean flies to central Asia and Syria and Lebanon in BA colours and using BA flight codes. BA could have stopped the sale under the terms of the franchise agreement, but did not.
But a BA source today denied there was any connection between the two transactions. “The slot deal has nothing to do with British Mediterranean,” the source said
At the same time in BRU where ATWOnline has had an interview also
Open skies deal leaves bmi's network, independence up in air
In this article with a director
Parkes said he could not say if new US routes would be operated as bmi or as Lufthansa, which holds a 30%-minus-one share in the group. "I'm sure a lot of talk is going on between the shareholders," he laughed.
Regarding rumors of a possible takeover by British Airways, he said he "will not speculate on speculation," noting that Chairman Michael Bishop reiterated his desire to remain independent in several articles in the UK press.
So what is really going on at DH at the moment only SMB really knows for sure,except for Virgin,BA,SAS,LH,and any number of U.S airlines waiting and, wanting to dominate LHR to U.S routes.
MR120:ok:

[Flightrider]

Fair enough that SMB probably has a game plan in here to which none of the rest of us are party. I'm sure he hasn't got to where he is today without it.

However, it is rather incongruous that Nigel Turner was saying only last week that bmi ruled out any slot sales (post on the bmi/BMed crew thread with quote), yet this deal to flog a load of Heathrow slots to BA comes to light a week later. It doesn't say an awful lot for management integrity and openness with their employee groups, does it.

[Count von Altibar]

There's virtually no management integrity at bmi. For a reasonably sized carrier they're like a bunch of dodgy market traders...

[EMA01]

Just seen on the internet that bmibaby are intrested in opening a new base in the south. Most likely to be Bournemouth I would have thought. Is this true or are they just going to expand from there current bases

EMA01

[EMA01]

Lol. It was funny wasn't it...:). No im being serious. Cant remember the website name but they were looking at Bournemouth and didnt know whether it was true

EMA01

[GBALU53]

Could the new base even be Lydd?:ok:
With the airport authorities at Lydd having a Titan B737 a few weeks ago doing trials, could they be thinking this could be an option in the south.:ok:

[mathers_wales_uk]

well BmiBaby sait they wanted to expand 60% year on year from Birmingham, theres a lot of trouble with getting 737's plus they don't know where they want to put their a/c when they finally do get some.

Unless they close one of their stations they will struggle to get a 737-300 or 737-500.

[bmibaby.com]

I don't think bmibaby will be opening any more bases in the forseeable future, the airline will instead be focusing on consolidating in the existing markets. bmibaby are already doing well to catch up with flybe at Manchester and Birmingham which will probably be two markets for further growth, East Midlands remains strong despite Ryanair competition and we're expecting more routes shortly, and I think Cardiff isn't doing too bad either. The issue for WW over the next year will be either sourcing additional 737 classics, or making the plunge to source in a new type, possibly as part of the tender bmi group put out earlier in the year.

[EMA01]

It has been announced that tomorrow (2nd April 07) bmi will be announcing big changes. I really am not sure of these changes but wondered if anyone else did. I saw somewhere that it might be an announcement of bmi buying GB Airways, or even bmi regional and bmibaby merging. anyone else know anything??

EMA01

[Tisme]

2 April is when the time thing starts that kind of replaces the NBM.

[DTVAirport]

I do remember something to do with bmi that is happening tomorrow, but I can't remember what, and since I didn't really understand your post Tisme I'm still non the wiser.

Could it be the results of the aircraft tender?

[EMA01]

Most likely. Or maybe a new livery but that is unlikely as its good the way it is.. I have just read on airliners.net forum that it could be about taking over GB airways or the expansion of over 20+ brand new aircraft for bmibaby and bmi. Hope this is true..

EMA01

[Tisme]

bmi is introducing Our Time is Now,


"We're improving our inflight service, and from 2 April 2007 diamond club members with blue plus status and above can enjoy complimentary food and drinks on board all bmi flights - including those offering a paid for service at London Heathrow. You'll also have preferential seating at the front of the plane on these Heathrow services - so you can get on and off, and on your way, more quickly."

[EMA01]

OK. What was all the fuss for then.... :* Big deal they are improving some features on there club card. As my friend has just told me they need to do something quick otherwise they will lose out to Virgin and Easyjet ect... They need to improve there fleet quick if you as me.. G-MIDO is really dirty and looks old on the inside, looks older than a B735 of bmibaby's and thats saying something....

EMA01

[bmibaby.com]

Not sure how much you understand about PR EMA01, but the big deal is bmi announcing a major relaunch of their product, after a very mixed response to the NBM rolled out two summers ago. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see some new aircraft for us at bmibaby, or something else really exciting, but bmi must continue to keep their loyal customers close, and it's initiatives like this that will allow them to do that.

[EMA01]

Yes that is all true. But one thing that is still bugging me is that bmi do not have loyal customers really. BA, EI, and VS all want part of bmi? why?. Why do they want bmi so badly. Because of low pax, easy to get hold off, im not sure.. What ever it is they need to think quickly to increase this.. Do you know anything else about it?

EMA01:ok:

[bmibaby.com]

bmi does have loyal passengers, diamond club is one of the most generous frequent flyer programmes in the business, and even though the product has slipped since the introduction of the NBM, I think the company has always prided itself on its professionalism. There are regular passengers on bmibaby who have flown with us for years, and even though they miss some of the Midland touches, still tell us there are traces of the company in the low-cost airline which is why they prefer us over the competition. If anything, I'd expect British Airways or Virgin (forget Lingus) would want us because we have a loyal following of passengers would move over.

I'm yet to be convinced with any of the bids being put forward by BA or Virgin. Even though BA would still have a smaller share than Air France or Lufthansa in terms of their major hub, I still can't imagine that the MMC would allow a merger to take place. Virgin makes a lot of sense, but they haven't indicated what would happen to the regional elements of the business or where they propose to find £1bn. Lufthansa might be an option having turned around Swiss, but they might be more tempted to follow SAS and make a quick buck from selling their shares.

[On standby]

The reason BMI seem to be flavour of the month is that they have a number of peak slots at LHR and Open Skies has just been agreed.

On top of that it is seen as a company that is 50%+ owned by someone who maybe willing to sell.

The NBM failed, Baby has been surpassed by a number of other Locos whilst its management dither and Regional is ticking along okay.

14% of the lHR slot pairs is the only thing to get excited about with BMI.

[bmibaby.com]

Obviously bmi are a buy-out target because of the Heathrow slots, this has always been the case, but particularly so since Open Skies was announced a few days ago, and this in unlikely to go away. Most likely the shareholders will drag out the bidding process until they get the highest possible bid, but I doubt we'll be hearing anything definite over the next few months. SMB has made no intentions that he is interested in selling, though SAS definitely are, and Lufthansa may well follow suit if the put option isn't exercised.

bmibaby is completely funded by SMB, it is a 100% owned subsidiary of his company, not bmi the airline division. As a result, they do not have the same huge access to funds that airlines like Ryanair or easyJet have. Despite that, in five years the airline has grown from 2 Boeing 737s and a Fokker 100 at EMA, to 21 Boeing 737s at four bases - compare this to the growth of easyJet between 1995 and 2000. bmi regional do well in their niche markets, and will continue to do so.

[EMA01]

So really bmibaby have been doing well for themselves it just hard to see it really with the low funds they get have turned themselves into one of the countries biggest low cost airlines..:D They get my praise.

[On standby]

Baby may have done well in the past when looked at under certain criteria but look at what Jet2, Flybe and Globespan have done in the same time. It never really started with so few A/C anyway, how many Mainline crews flew around on option 1, 2 or 3 in BMI 737s/Fokkers?
Was MME a brilliant business decision? What about MAN? How many locos were there before Baby? How many are there now with more A/C than Baby? How many variations of CWL- GLA/PIK have there been in 4 years? When will the fabled CWL 4th A/C arrive if ever?
Why has there been no profit share this year when Easy and Ryan have increased profits in the same market conditions? Several pilots have left in the past partly because they can't see a long term future at Baby compared to Easy' or Ryan'.

[Torquelink]

From Aviation Interactive today:

"British Airways has acquired 102 weekly takeoff and landing slots at London Heathrow from fellow British carrier bmi. The £30m purchase will support future growth of BA at its global hub. The deal, which will ensure seven or eight extra flights per day by BA, boosts the British flag carrier’s share of total Heathrow slots to 41.4 per cent. Most of the slots relinquished by bmi belonged to its loss-making subsidiary BMed."

I don't understand this business anymore - maybe I never did. But bmi buys BMED, in part for its valuable slots, for £30m . . and then sells the slots to BA for £30m leaving it with what exactly? And this at a time when bmi can finally begin to think about flying LHR - N America and presumably needs all the slots it can get! Nope - I just don't understand this business anymore. . .

:confused:

[bmibaby.com]

bmi gets from BMED exclusive route access to a number of high yielding markets along with the aircraft and crew to operate them. bmi then sells the surplus of slots that they don't need, admittedly at a very low price which I'm unsure about, to make sure they don't need to operate a number of loss-making slot warmers.

[Torquelink]

But, as I understand it, BMED were losing money on pretty much every service operated which is why they were up for sale. And, surely, bmi could have leased out the slots (or something) until they needed them for US services?

[uklad007]

Torquelink

This doesnt make sense to me either, if the press are correct. It would be interesting to find out how many slots BMED actually had to start off with. I thought the purchase by BMI was a steal at £30 mill. They get the aircraft, the exclusive route licences and the slots of Bmed- probably the most valuable part, but then to apparently sell them at what looks like a huge discount on the £5-£10 million per set that has been quoted widely as being the asking price for peak time slots and to your biggest rival that your hoping to now compete with in the transatlantic market that is now opened up because of open skies does seem rather strange.

Even if the Bmed routes are loss making, surely the slots could have been used to introduce new long haul routes or to sell them to an alliance partner like Lufthansa for example?!

I wonder if there is more to this than meets the eye :confused:

[Torquelink]

Exactly Uklad, it does makes one wonder what's really going on. Within the last 48 hours there have been rumours of BA buying bmi (if the MMC would let it happen), BA buying Iberia (or selling their existing stake in Iberia - having bought AA's Iberia stake only a year or so ago), bmi buying GB etc etc. All very confusing. But I'm sure that we can all rest easy in the knowledge that the highly paid senior management of these airlines know exactly what they are doing and have well thought out, detailed, plans which they are putting smoothly into practice.

:D

[Whitehatter]

If you look at the press releases from today, it makes a different picture.

BMI sold slot pairs to BA. The slots are the BMed ones according to the statement. So by the look of it, BMI are cashing some slots in from services they are discontinuing (frequency changes or routes being pulled) and using their own slots for the BMed routes.

The BA codeshare is being extended on the BMed routes after the franchise is due to expire, with aircraft and uniforms changing to BMI.

So BMI must have got a good deal overall. BA doesn't exercise its right to block BMed being sold, BMI gets the codeshare deal, and BMI's surplus "use or lose" slots go to someone who isn't a predatory third party wanting to move in under Open Skies.

[Curious Pax]

Apologies if I'm missing something, but in addition to the peculiarities of giving up 51 departures a week, at the time of purchase bmi stated that they were keeping the BMed fleet. Without these 51 LHR departures, surely that means either a signicant number of shorthaul bmi flights are going to disappear in favour of longer ones (ie average sector length will increase) or there are going to be a lot of A320/1s standing idle or moving base to another airport instead.

[TartinTon]

"surely that means either a signicant number of shorthaul bmi flights are going to disappear in favour of longer ones (ie average sector length will increase) or there are going to be a lot of A320/1s standing idle or moving base to another airport instead."

...or being sold or leased out to other airlines...there's not exactly a glut of A320/1 a/c out there for those who like them

[BHDflyer]

2 questions start to float around my head. If BA will get the slots then does that mean they could start up new routes? On the other hand what routes would bmi pull?

[BHDflyer]

Word on the street is that bmi are in talks with BFS about moving half of their LHR flights to BFS from BHD, to start as early as March 08! Currently being discussed on the Belfast-2 forum.

[Erwin Schroedinger]

The whole Heathrow slot situation is ludicrous.

They've got aircraft operating empty or tiny aircraft operating with miniscule passenger loads, just to keep their slot rights.

They've got airlines making millions out of selling something which isn't theirs to sell (shouldn't be theirs to sell).

What happened to fair competition and survival of the fittest? Make airlines justify their use of slots by monitoring their passenger loads. Any under achievers get booted off their slot. That's how utilisation will improve!

The current situation stifles competition and is commercial madness! :*

[BBJS]

And the Chapter 11 protection of bankrupt US airlines doesn't? Along with many other inequities within the industry.

I agree there should be a level playing field.

Unfortunately the Big Boys in the industry will strongly disagree with anything that appears to infringe on their "turf", and will work very hard to prevent it happening.

[Flightrider]

Putting several bits of information together:

51 slots per week at LHR sold to bmi

BMI Regional planning expansion later this year

Several BMI Regional E145s currently used on services to LHR

E145s progressively used on routes with low traffic volume, which are presumably not profitable for operation on the 319/320.

51 curiously equals the number of Heathrow-Hannover, Heathrow-TeesSide and the extra evening Heathrow-Leeds services operated per week, all of which are flown by Regional Embraers.

Chop those services, free up the Embraers for the bmi regional expansion and hey presto, you've released enough slots to cover the entire BMed operation and still sell BMed's slots to BA.

I might be adding 2+2+2 and getting 381 here, but I suspect I'm not far off what will actually happen. They surely cannot be intending to operate Embraers into LHR as a long-term business plan.

Note: Although LHR-ABZ has a high proportion of Embraer service, it's unlikely that it would be up for the chop. Quite a few of the BMed routes (Baku and Bishkek in particular) have a high dependence on the oil industry and so it is likely that moving these longer routes into the bmi network will see an increase in connecting traffic on BD's LHR-ABZ route.

[chrism20]

Does anyone know when the Diamond Club will be integrated into Baby? It was announced with such fanfare and has now gone all quiet

[DTVAirport]

Does anyone know why BD are starting to retire their A320s? Jethro's website is showing G-MIDW, one of the Star Alliance ones, as WFU, are they considering these birds too big as well as the A321s?

Very annoying, I was hoping to see their A320s in the new Star Alliance livery, as well as G-MIDY/Z in the new livery as well.

[jethro15]

Does anyone know when the leased Arkefly 767 is due to leave Bmi?
Lease extended until 20 Apr.

jethro
UK and Ireland Airline Fleet Listings
http://www.jethros.i12.com

[bmibabyfc]

FAO Chrism20

Reference the diamond club, yes it was announced with the new business package that baby launched a month or so ago to big it up a bit more!!

Everyone is asking the same question at EMA and there are alot of pax interested in diamond club....

From what ive heard it shall be a couple of months yet though before it is all intergrated..... Will be interesting though how it all works from an operational point of view with regards to adding the points etc

[mathers_wales_uk]

it is interesting to see how the points will work especially on the BmiBaby open skies system because at the moment i can't see there's a facility to add points on there.

[lexxity]

Apparently the facility to add FFQ numbers will be on line in May.

[mathers_wales_uk]

Is that facility going to be used on the Open Skies too? And will it be able to be done at the check-in desk or will we have to inconvenience passengers by sending them down to the Ticket Desk?

cheers :ok:

[LHRKLBD]

"Does anyone know why BD are starting to retire their A320s? Jethro's website is showing G-MIDW, one of the Star Alliance ones, as WFU, are they considering these birds too big as well as the A321s?

Very annoying, I was hoping to see their A320s in the new Star Alliance livery, as well as G-MIDY/Z in the new livery as well."

I think they are just getting rid of the ones they leased and replace with the "bought" ones fom BMed.

Would love to see a A321 in the new livery.

[uklad007]

SAS are selling their 20% stake in BMI, they are already in talks with Lufthansa (who own 30% less one share) according to a report on BBC News.
Interesting times ahead, but Lufthansa would have to think carefully on this, am no expert but Competition authorities could tell Lufthansa they either go for BMI or Iberia and not both (as i believe they are interested in IB) - given that they own Swiss and stakes in a number of other European Airlines.

[bhd-lonFLYer]

Who do you think will get it, i think the likes of ba and bmi may try and get their hands on this, it will give them a better position when bishop sells.

[Little Blue]

IF !!
In my 20 or so years with bmi in it's various guises, we must have been "sold" hundreds of times !
Shame no-ones told the staff!:)

[uklad007]

bhd-lonFLYer

I could see four possible contenders
Lufthansa
Existing Management
Virgin/ Sir Richard Branson
Private Equity

It would be easy to say Lufthansa but like i said their is a limit to what they will be allowed to own in terms of what competition authorities will allow so they will need to make a decision.
Sir MB has made it public knowledge he wants to keep hold of his airline so may try and raise the capital to buy it to secure him 70% plus one share
Sir RB has long said he sees BMI as a good fit for his long haul activities and the prospect of getting hold of those slots at LHR
And an outside is Private Equity which you cant rule out these days, they may play the long game with a view to getting hold of the whole airline to then sell off the slots - but thats a v slim chance.

I doubt BA would be allowed to buy them or buy a stake in them?

The above is only my opinion of possible purchasers but it could be none of those four and someone completely different.

I also have to say i am surprised SAS want to sell off Spanair - i can understand the BMI stake as i dont think it brings in too many benefits apart from codesharing and some shared revenue which could continue and the sale would help to improve SAS's cash flow, but looking at SAS annual report, Spanair has really performed well in the last year and has a very bright future and there seems to have been a raft of routes launched by Spanair to Scandinavia so would have thought its good to keep hold of, but then again if SAS policy is to push its home region it might consider this the best time to sell, i just hope it doesnt get bought out by another spanish airline and merged in!.

[flyer55]

I could see Virgin getting their way and luthansa having to choose between going after BMI or Iberia !

[finding_nema]

Maybe I'm the only person out here with this opinion, but I don't understand why so many people think virgin atlantic and bmi are such a good match. Although VS would most likely keep the trunk domestic routes to compete with the BA super shuttle routes, the airline would most likely get rid of the European network and marginal UK markets like MME and LBA. They would close down Donington Hall resulting in hundreds of job losses, and would have no interest in the future of bmi regional and bmibaby who are pretty weak without the bmi connection. SMB has said he isn't interested in selling and the deputy CEO has stated the group would be more interested in acquiring another airline than being acquired over the next 12 months.

[uklad007]

finding_nema

I agree with everything youve said, my point was that SRB has made it public knowledge on a few occasions that he wants BMI and i can see why he thinks it makes good sense (no overlap, 12% of heathrow slots to add to the 3-5% he owns, a Euro based airline and the UK trunk routes) but agree with a lot of what youve said as what potentially could happen if he got it.
I do feel though that rather than BMI acquire another airline he (SMB et al) might put together a fund to buy the 20% from SAS if LH dont beat them to it, further securing his ownership but possibly delaying future buyouts, depending on his funding which i dont wish to speculate on. This could inturn lead to LH offloading its stake if it feels it cant increase it. In an ideal world am sure SMB wants the whole airline back and to start buying up others to increase his portfolio once more but i guess thats all part of what the future holds.

[Vaap]

Doesn't Lufty have an option to buy SMB's shares at a set price. If so does anyone know when it comes into force? Wouldn't the value of bmi have gone up since the price of the shares was set due to the open skys?

[Tisme]

The company memo we had said that bmi were in a position to have this share themselves.

[11K-AVML]

As well as the right to refuse sale to anyone they do not agree to.

Running an airline is a hard business. For bmi to have got this far suggests to me that it has been well managed. Something like this announcement won't have come as a surprise and will have been planned for, as the memo also shows.

[DTVAirport]

bmi are sourcing three second hand A332s, rumour is they're coming from Air France, but I personally hope not, simply because of the different powerplants (BD = RR, AF = GE). Also, I don't believe AF would want to part with any as they're still fairly new.

Any order bmi places at Le Bourget will be the tender they sent out back in February for 40 aircraft (20 firm and 20 options), so if anything, expect an E190 order!

[fadec_primary_channel]

Engines make no real difference. Its a relatively easy job to change them. The major issue is cabin layout. Much more expense and hangar time required to modify after manufacture:).

[DTVAirport]

I would have thought it would be the other way round, with the engines being difficult to change and the cabin easy.

So can we assume that BD will change the engines if they get non-RR powered ones? They should really try and get the one on lease to Emirates back for a start.

[Airbus215]

There is NO A330 on lease to any third party carrier

bmi took delivery of the first 3 A330's and cancelled the delivery of the fourth which was then sold on to Emirates by Airbus.

bmi has plans in place to source suitable A/C to operate post open skys and will make public the details when ready !

[Skipness One Echo]

Er what? Kinda rare to change the engines on these aircraft? I can think of Atlas changing a PW 747 to a GE 747 a few years back but aside from that nothing springs to mind.

[6chimes]

Engines make no real difference. Its a relatively easy job to change them.

Would there not be the added expense of training all the engineers on the new engines and would there also be added expense for third party engineering down route?

6

[fadec_primary_channel]

Your probably correct. Not many carriers get AC then change the engine type. Ususally because there have been many other examples available either new or on lease. However, if the AC is relatively rare and commanding high lease rates, then I guess some may investigate the possibility of doing the above. Its all relative though, as the same airframe can have differing values due to cabin fit/engine type/avioincs fit etc. With market forces at work it is partially dependant upon the airlines' attitude to financial risk as to the path they take.
DTV the cabin is far more complex with the modern IFE systems and galleys now being used. So if operators have 2 main galleys and a 3 class layout it will obvioulsy be of little need to a one class/ charter operator. bmi along with lots of other operators have a set service plan. Its much easier to have a common cabin layout, so trying to achieve commonality with used AC is harder than new airframes built to customer requirements. An engine change is completed in a day a cabin config change with ife systems galley changes with all the services modded and a new installation plus the re-weigh starts at weeks not days , all with the obvious cost implications. :)


6 If bmi bmi took A330's with Ge motors then they would have problems with etops. If the GE's were operated on non etops routes it may help. But the engineers usually get approvals for the ac type with a specified engine. They can gain approvals for other engine types if the company so wishes. If bmi used a third party engineering down route they usually provide cover based on the AC spec bmi gives them. So if they have no approvals then they can't sign off items, so less attractive to bmi. Cost to bmi would be if they needed to send engineers on courses, but this is small beer compared to securing an AC and the extra revenue it brings. This is balanced however by the actual sense of operating mixed types. Whole company is now single fleet (big savings). As for your douwnroute scenari, its much better to get a company with approvals, so not really an extra cost to bmi, only for the 3rd party if they need to get approvals to secure a contract with bmi.:) An engineer can give you a more concise answer!

[MarkD]

Air Canada A333-RR might be available soon now 777 is coming on-line.

[BMEDFO]

Lahore is off again and Cairo is now the new route. But don't expect to get off folks :{

[egnxer]

In view of Sterling's relatively recent announcement that they'll be operating EMA-CPH/OSL/ARN from October I'm just wondering if people think bmiBaby might have missed a trick here and if they'd been a bit more bold could(should?) have been operating these services.

IMO EMA has been crying out for services to Scandinavia for some time.

Thoughts anyone?

[aeulad]

I may be wrong, but aren't all the UK/Egypt rights currently in use? If so, that would mean Alexandria is being dropped in favour of Cairo?

Regards

Mike

[MarkD]

Future737NG
My info is that they are 330-343X - open to correction.
here's the AC page on them
http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/fleet/a330-300.html

[BMEDFO]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/875465.html

Prospects abound for new U.K., domestic flightshttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gifhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gifBritish Midland Airways (BMI) is ready to become the second discount carrier to fly between the U.K. and Israel. TheMarker learned yesterday that Transportation Ministry Director General Gideon Siterman discussed the idea with the airline's heads at the Paris Air Show. Thomsonfly was the first carrier to receive approval earlier this month. BMI is the U.K.'s second-largest carrier after British Airways, with a 12 percent market share of flights in and out of Heathrow Airport in London. Israeli and U.K. officials met in February to discuss expanding the number of carriers between the two countries beyond El Al and British Airways as part of Israel's new open skies policy.

[AltFlaps]

Heard on the grapevine that Peter Spencer (ex Maersk/Duo) is to be appointed Managing Director at bmi !

As an ex Maersk/Duo employee, I certainly have my opinions ... :mad:

[lostinBRU]

Don't be a tease..............;)

[bhd-lonFLYer]

Is there any rumors/news about new bmi aircraft?

[LHRKLBD]

Always rumors but never any news :ugh:

[DTVAirport]

I would have thought they'd have announced the 40 (20+20) aircraft tender by now. Expect E-Jets.

[spanishflea]

The order is to be announced at 7am tomorrow.

[bhd-lonFLYer]

What aircraft do you think it will be for: E170, E175, E190, E195 or A319?
Will it be to replace the current A320 or E135 or just expansion.

[mccdatabase]

5 more A330`s plus 5 more A321`s :ok:



Dear Colleague



As you know the board has over recent months been reviewing its strategy for the development of new mid haul and long haul routes from Heathrow. I am delighted to tell you that the main board has unanimously authorised the acquisition of ten additional aircraft to our current fleet to support our strategy.



An additional five Airbus A330 aircraft valued at around $500m will join the three similar aircraft that we now operate with the first additional aircraft expected to be delivered in Spring 2008.



In addition, following on from our acquisition of BMED earlier in the year, bmi will also take delivery of five new Airbus A321 aircraft valued at $250m. This will enable us to further expand our medium haul network.



This is tremendous news for us and enables us to implement our strategy to further develop our long and medium haul route networks over the coming years. It will give us the headroom to introduce new routes and services as well as the ability to increase capacities on existing destinations where the demand exists.



As we move forward towards the full integration of the former BMED network I hope very soon to be able to tell you of our plans for the forthcoming winter period that commences on 28th October. This will include enhanced frequencies as well as new routes. I also expect to be able to let you know shortly about our specific network plans for our long haul operations.



The board and the shareholders’ approval for these ten additional aircraft is a clear indication that they have every confidence in the business and its growth and development and it sends out a clear message of their continued support and commitment to bmi.



Kind regards

[mccdatabase]

Thats what the man says!! :D:D:D:D:D:D

[Dr. Spin]

Looks like the expansion we were all predicting is going to happen.

5 new 330's with the first arriving spring 2008 to add to the existing 3.

5 additional 321's as part of the BMed integration (already ordered before the acquisition)

All in all it should mean about 50+ new commands (at current crewing ratios)!

Good news indeed for all those SFO's who decided not to jump ship!:ok:

[Airbus215]

The new A321 will be equipped for medium haul routes with belly tanks etc and configured in split cabin configurations.

The original bmi A321 were not suitable for longer range journeys and were returned at the end of current leases.

[LHRKLBD]

the 5 321's are the ones that are currently on order for BMed anyway.

[DTVAirport]

I get the impression that this is separate to the 20+20 a/c order? Specifically because, the A330s at least, are for when open skies comes into play, yet the tender for the 20+20 aircraft order went out before open skies was approved.

I assume this aircraft announcement at 7AM tomorrow is the A330s/A321s and not the 20+20 order?

[spanishflea]

I assume this aircraft announcement at 7AM tomorrow is the A330s/A321s and not the 20+20 order?

My understanding is that this is correct.

The order that has been publicly put out to tender is not being announced. The order that nobody knew anything about is being announced instead.

:hmm:

[AltFlaps]

What's going to happen to the baby then ?

[Count von Altibar]

The baby will continue as is, maybe getting mainline A319s which won't be much use to the new medium/longhaul strategy. It's basically an increase of 5xA330's to the fleet. As Dr Spin states, the A321's were already on their way due to the aqusition of BMED. I think it's Mr Bishop doing the USA thing he's been fighting for for years. I still predict he'll sell the company within the next year and a half.

Regards, The Count

[The Big Easy]

I take it all the A330's will be destined for LHR. Any idea on new routes?

TBE.

[bhd-lonFLYer]

bmi unveils $750 million fleet acquisition plan - five Airbus A330s and five A321s to join fleet
release date: 10/07/2007
bmi today (10 July 2007) announced that its Board has formally approved the strategy of developing new mid haul and long haul routes from London Heathrow and has authorised the acquisition of ten additional aircraft to add to its current fleet.
Five additional Airbus A330s valued at around $500 million will join the three existing A330 aircraft currently in service, with the first new aircraft expected to be delivered in Spring 2008.
Consequent upon the recent acquisition of British Mediterranean Airways (BMED), bmi will also take delivery of five new Airbus A321s valued at $250 million for an expanded medium haul network.
Nigel Turner, chief executive of bmi, said: “I am delighted that we are able to proceed with the development and expansion of our medium and long haul services. Delivery of ten further aircraft will allow the introduction of new routes and upgrade capacity on existing services in these two important sectors of our business.
“Later this year we will be announcing network plans for our long haul operations in 2008.
“An expanded operation of the former BMED network for the 2007/08 winter schedule will be announced shortly with new routes and enhanced frequencies to commence on 28 October 2007 when BMED will be fully integrated into bmi.”
ends
note to editors
• bmi acquired control of the BA franchise airline BMED in February 2007, and is working towards full integration by 28 October 2007
• the addition of the new aircraft will take the bmi group fleet total to 75

[Max Angle]

Heard on the grapevine that Peter Spencer (ex Maersk/Duo) is to be appointed Managing Director at bmi !Correct, announced a few days ago. He will be MD of bmi mainline.

[bmibaby.com]

bmibaby isn't going anywhere. For some time the airline was the segment of the group that was keeping the rest of it afloat, with the other arms either only just breaking even or making big losses. Now baby are carrying the most pax of any arm in the group, and what's stopping the airline from being more profitable is our equipment. Hopefully with the new strategy out of Heathrow, mainline will be using higher capacity A320s on the shorthaul routes to free up more slots for mediumhaul for the new A321s and the BMED routes. That should free up A319s for us, as the 737s are getting a bit knackered now!

[GBALU53]

So from what I am lead to belive, the A319s will move to Baby and the Boeing 737 500s will go as these are getting a bit old?:ok:
The Boeing 737 300s will be around for some time yet as some of these are newish to the fleet?:ok:

[b mi baby]

Great news at bmi

5 more A330's
5 more A321's

looks like this company is finally going places!

[TopBunk]

Can anyone actually tell me BMI got of the BMed deal? The money they paid was paid back by BA for the BMed 51 BMEd slot pairs. As I see it, they got the BMed operation (aircraft, crews and routes) for free, but without the slots to fly them out of LHR. To me that suggests that they will have excess aircraft and crews - what gives?