These rumours have worried me a bit now...Is it a safe company to join? (Might not even get through the assessment day yet lol, but if i do...)

its over bmed
 

lets face it guys as sad as it is its only a matter of time for bmed bye bye

I agree with this comment, I left BMED only because of thier financial position. Great company, Majority of people are great. Shame about poor performance of routes. And with BMI in pretty much the same situation.. I can't see a buy out on the horizon!

Good Luck to all involved!

Sphere

Anymore news on the situation with BMed, guys?
I am beginning to get worried...:sad:

All the bmi directors are still in London discussing this. Watch this space

And I hear all the managers and CCMs had a meeting today and none of them looked too happy...:ooh: :sad:

Thats a good sign, its normal.

Bishop of Baku, very well observed haha

Just had a call to say the first weekend of BMed interviews have been postponed/cancelled. They didn't say why, does anyone know? I'm really disappointed, but maybe it's meant to be what with all the rumours about BMed recently.

Any truth in the rumour the BMI have bought out BMED? Have just seen reported on the BA forum that the buyout has occurred and the franchise will be disbanded in the next few months.

Where is BMEDLHR when you need him??

fingers crossed
 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed i dont care who buys Bmed as long as people in the company keep there jobs!!!!!! I love working for Bmed! lets hope there will be some good news this week for Bmed!!! come on we need it :ugh:

Hubbly,
give us a link to the exact place in the BA forum, where you read that, please...

Yeah, WEB, me too, me too!
Of course we wanna keep our jobs, but I hope we don't have to fly BMI destinations...
Some of us live abroad - Amsterdam, Spain, Paris... - imagine doing LHR-Manchester-LHR-Manchester-LHR or whatever they do, if you are in that situation.....
The beauty of BMed was that you could live exactly where you want, the trips were not too short and not too long and the check in times - lunch time or evenings... And at the end of a double sector you end up at your destination in a 5* hotel for at least 2 nights, sometimes up to 4 nights(while getting paid), before you have to work again 2 sectors on the way to LHR! Superb!
And all that - with a very good wage!
Eh, good old days.....:sad:

He is no longer at BMED.

so does everyone think this is the reason that maybe the recruitment days have been postponed this weekend? maybe they cant afford to take on as many applicants as they thought...

I would have thought that the recruitment days have been postponed until people know the exact nature of the deal, ie full scale merger of BMED services into BMI or if BMED is kept as a seperate operation.

Although it seems pretty certain that BMI will be the new owners of BMED, the deal has not been done YET!

It seems as though pen will be put to paper tomorrow. Unless any one comes in at the last minute.

As far a BMED's future goes, nobody can possibly know what BMI will decide to do, the franchise with BA can be ended by mutual consent but with a notice period of 18 months.

I believe the cancellation of recruitment days has taken place as it is not really appropriate to continue them in the current climate.

There is a lot of speculation and a lot of rumours however currently things are more uncertain than ever.

But I was told the recruitment days next weekend (10/11 feb) would still be happening, as I was told I might be able to go to one of them. Anyway, doesn't matter much. I guess the company has to sort itself out before employing any new crew.

All BA franchise agreements have an early termination clause in them to cover a potentially unfriendly change of ownership. Whilst no-one can predict what BA will do, they could invoke this and force a change within (I think) a month to disenfranchise BMed. It is effectively treated as a breach of the franchise if there is an unfriendly change (i.e. much faster termination), rather than a termination through normal means which has a longer notice period attached.

Tomorrow, Wed, at 11.30, in Hetherington House is going to be an announcement by BMed's CE to the staff about the situation.
I guess we'll get to know a bit more then...

La Diva,
I have my interview with FLYBE tomorrow to find out whether I keep my job (BA Connect) or not. Seems like it's gonna be a bit of a heavy day for a lot of people - good luck whatever the outcome.

Fingers and everything crossed, Dash-7 Lover!

Is the announcement gonna be made in the crew room, like the recent forums, do you know?

Yes, or so I understood, nwuklad76.
Unfortunately some of us can't be there, but as I said - news travel fast!
Lets hope they gonna be good news!

It looks very much like bmi has made an offer the board could accept. There is bound to be a period of uncertainty until all the information comes out. But one thing is certain. BA would dearly like to keep us going with the franchise as we are a great little earner for them. One of the reasons we are in a bit of financial difficulty...300lb Gorilla versus 300oz mouse !

Our CEO is ex-BA and a supporter of the franchise. He knows the problems within BA and is aware of how important Willie Walsh sees us maintaining the agreement. In the future battles Mr Walsh is going to have to fight, BMED could be the only BA tailed aircraft flying. So they will need us.

Also we are BA with Balls ! that's how we are known within the management at BA. Great PR for BA and the UK. (remember Beirut's airport opening in August? Who was there but BMED, not BA - but the public know no different)

With Sir Michael Bishop wanting to expand into more long-haul operations we would fit very nicely into his plans. We have a significantly lower cost base (only bettered by Ryanair) and a better crew package. Can't see the two 'blending' in together that well with these issues. Our operating model is maybe the new way forward for bmi... :ok:

Also, is it a full take-over or a controlling interest ? BA might still be happy with a controlling interest, afterall bmi (as British Midland) was BA's largest franchise operator for many years so there is a precedence.

Loads to think about :\ and when the dust settles and if you are still interested in joining our merry band, then please do. As for those of us in here (10yrs this year!) lets hope and pray everything goes well for us and we come through this period with a new and positive direction. It will be important for us all to support each other, to dispense with the bickering and trivia for now, and to keep our spirits up until this uncertainty is over.

So, that'll be the room party in my room then !! :ok: :D :D
(Arhh, BMED room parties ! LEGENDARY !!! )

Very much agree with everything you said there, Richard!:D
See you at the room party(hopefully!)!:ok:

Bmed died the day Des died. Very sad no matter what happens. In my humble opinion, I think the old bmed we know has gone. :{ Shame. Best wishes to all the lovely staff there. With respect richard, not sure I agree with your entire post. No offence meant here, but I don't think BA 'need' bmed. Also, of course it was bmed that flew back to bey after the disruption. BA, afterall, don't even fly there anyway? I do however, admire your positive attitude and bmed need that right now. Good luck :)

Unfortunately death is part of life!
And sometimes all you can do is to make the best of a bad situation!
Nobody can bring Des back (RIP), all we can hope for is BMed to get through this.
For all our sake...

Not sure if BMED died with Des' passing, unfortunately the geo poltical problems of BMED's route network came home to roost over the past two years. Very sad. I am sure that bmi will profit from the BMED LHR slots.

Des was a very clever operator. When he departed things started going wrong straight away. Staff relationships fell apart. Many key staff were sacked (some deservedly), left, resigned or stood down from their roles in departments.

Des would never have allowed Bmed to get into the positon it's in today. He was a very cautious businessman with a careful attitude to risk and had the ability to always foresee problems before they eventuated. He was very well connected in the unique route network of Bmed and personally, I think that if he were sitting at his desk today, it would have been a different story. It's just my own opinon though.

:{

Ah well, half-full glass man, me!

BUT WAIT !! NEWS --- BMED recognised as being WORLD CLASS ? :eek:
-------------------------------

From Steve Salter...

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are well.

You may or may not be aware that last week, two of BMED’s Cabin Crew – Tom Moriarty (Purser) and Peter Turner (Assistant Purser) represented us at the ISPY Retail Awards 2007.

During the four day event, Tom and Peter were set various individual challenges based around onboard selling and product awareness, competing with some of the world’s biggest airlines.

The ISPY week culminated in an awards ceremony on Friday night where Peter collected the prize for Inflight Sales Person of the Year – Overall Winner for Scheduled Airlines which is fantastic – the equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar™!!!!!!!

I cannot tell you how proud I am of them both, and to be approached by so many airline industry personnel before and after the ceremony to be told how great it was to work with them throughout the week was the cherry on the cake.

If you see Peter and Tom around the office, onboard or overseas – give them a big pat on the back!

Pictures of the event will soon be posted on: www.trt.co.uk following the links to ISPY 2007

VBRGDS

Steve Salter
--------------------------------------------------------------

:D :D :D :D

Well done BMED crew...but then we always knew you were good ! (and that's coming from a pilot ! :8 )

Let's hope this is a sign of good times to come. (I can, and I will, be an optimist ! :ok: )

And Des would have been proud as punch about this. I can see him smiling now... :)

One announcement was this...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Everyone,

I hope you are well.

You may or may not be aware that last week, two of BMED's Cabin Crew - Tom Moriarty (Purser) and Peter Turner (Assistant Purser) represented us at the ISPY Retail Awards 2007.

During the four day event, Tom and Peter were set various individual challenges based around onboard selling and product awareness, competing with some of the world's biggest airlines.

The ISPY week culminated in an awards ceremony on Friday night where Peter collected the prize for Inflight Sales Person of the Year - Overall Winner for Scheduled Airlines which is fantastic - the equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar!!!!!!!

I cannot tell you how proud I am of them both, and to be approached by so many airline industry personnel before and after the ceremony to be told how great it was to work with them throughout the week was the cherry on the cake.

If you see Peter and Tom around the office, onboard or overseas - give them a big pat on the back!

Pictures of the event will soon be posted on: www.trt.co.uk following the links to ISPY 2007

VBRGDS

Steve Salter
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Well done to the two guys who entered especially to Pete for winning !

BMED = World Class, no doubt !

Now let's hope this is recognised by our new owners (?)

As for the CEO's chat, I believe from another forum that the ink is still to go on the paper...so another 24hrs of waiting.

Yes, just been on the phone to Sir Michael.

New routes:
LHR - EDI - EMA - ADD
LHR - AMS - ALA
LHR - MAN - FRU

Enjoy :ok:

Sorry, couldn't resist :E

if those routes keep you in a job then you should be thanking Sir Michael:ugh:


Sorry, also couldn't resist!

Don't bother to appologise for being so smug.
Just remember - life is a funny thing - tomorrow you might be in the same situation as the BMed crew members today!

LaDiva
It's called "humour" :}
Having worked for BMI in the past, I probably have a better insight than most people. I wasn't being smug. If I wanted to be smug, I could explain how in my new job I won't have to wait an hour to get to Terminal 1/2/3 from the Car park or get gassed in the "tunnel", or how the CEO actually knows my name, don't stay in flea infested hotels, promotion merit not on nepotism, treated with respect and courtesy etc.etc.etc.
NOW that's being smug! :)
P.s When away from base with BMI, always carry spare change for the taxi to the hotel. BMI use to have an habit of not paying their taxi bills.:}
PPS. I am pleased that no one will lose their jobs.

And you just done it.;) :D :ok:
Point taken.

If the deal has gone through......then im sure that all BMI want are the routes and aircraft - BMI's commercial situation seems to be dire if you look at other posts and the opportunities to expand then LHR then it seems pretty limited and stagnant. This was the only real chance BMI had. Do you really see the franchise carrying on for much longer? .....nope.

Some self interest/promotion here of course, but any business, particularly a customer-facing full-service airline business like BMED, is not only as good as it's routes and slots, but also it's people (and in particular it's operating crew)! Surely people, culture and capabilities are a fairly big part of any business/airline which is sold as a going-concern? I would put the aircraft, which can be acquired/leased at market rates, or ordered new (order lead times accepted) properly specified for the task (and maybe some with slightly longer legs?) further down this list!

This is hardly old news(as stated elsewhere on these fora), it is breaking news and (potentially, if and when a deal is consummated) the beginning of a quite exciting period of strategic change and development for the airlines concerned. However it is to be structured and organised, al this is likely to have a significant effect on people across all functions and at all levels...