Lufthansa plans to sell BMI

[sn26567]

It seems now that IAG (the parent of British Airways) will close bmibaby. Plans for bmi Regional are not clear yet.

http://aggbot.com/Business-News/article/16672668

Closing bmibaby will cost £60 million. This certainly includes rerouting passengers who have a firm booking.

[Comet]

It seems now that IAG (the parent of British Airways) will close bmibaby. Plans for bmi Regional are not clear yet.

And people wonder why I'm not very happy about this!

A more recent article on the take over http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8141b48-8af2 ... z1sn5UEkr1

and some slightly better news for those of us booked on bmi Regional who are being kept in the dark as to whether or not we will have flights to go on in September http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A ... QsXx7gdKhw - I truly hope this deal comes off.

[sn26567]

The failure of IAG to find a buyer for bmibaby makes the competition moving in in bmibaby territory:

Flybe makes move on Bmibaby territory

Flybe is expanding its services from East Midlands airport – the biggest hub for Bmibaby which is facing an uncertain future following the purchase of Bmi by British Airways’ parent company.

Flybe, which currently only flies to Belfast from East Midlands airport, will start services to Amsterdam, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Jersey for the winter 2012/13 season from October 28. It will base two aircraft at the airport for the first time.

East Midlands is Bmibaby’s biggest base from where it serves 31 destinations including all five of Flybe’s new routes from the airport.

IAG is trying to find a buyer for Bmibaby which it does not want to integrate into British Airways. The failure to find a buyer could lead to Bmibaby being shut down with the potential loss of 470 jobs.

More from ABTN

[sn26567]

Bmi Regional sold to Sector Aviation for £8 million

IAG has signed a deal to sell Bmi Regional to Sector Aviation Holdings for £8 million. IAG said the deal would include all of Aberdeen-based Bmi Regional’s 18 Embraer regional jets which fly to 14 destinations from UK regional airports.

Sector Aviation is a consortium of businessmen being funded by Stephen and Peter Bond who are also investors in Loganair. The group includes the team previously known as Granite Aviation which agreed a deal to buy Bmi Regional from Lufthansa last year.

The deal will have to be approved the CAA and IAG said it expected the sale to be completed within two weeks.

More from ABTN

[RoMax]

8 million pounds...

Anyway, I'm curious to see what will happen with the BRU routes after the summer season...

It is said they will keep the BMI brand and the current bmi website. But for the rest I've no idea.

[Comet]

They owned the regional airline that was merged into bmi and became bmi Regional. At least it should have normal summer operations, for which I am eternally grateful!

[Comet]

Anyway, I'm curious to see what will happen with the BRU routes after the summer season...

I can't see the BRU routes being axed altogether, the flights have very often been full both to LBA and EMA (and from what I've seen of EDI flights they were probably quite well used as well). The LBA-BRU service lost one mid day flight in 2011 but the morning and evening flights continued and were very busy.

[sn26567]

British Airways Replaces bmi Operation on 9 Europe/Africa Routes

Update at 0600GMT 11MAY12

Starting 23MAY12, 9 bmi routes within Europe and Africa will see flight number changes, where it’ll carry British Airway’s “BA” flight numbers instead of “BD” flight numbers.

Details:

London Heathrow – Agadir BD44x > BA816x
London Heathrow – Basel BD16x > BA813x/814x
London Heathrow – Bergen BD55x > BA815x
London Heathrow – Casablanca BD44x > BA816x
London Heathrow – Marrakech BD44x > BA816x
London Heathrow – Nice BD19x > BA814x
London Heathrow – Stavanger BD53x > BA815x

Vienna and Nice has yet to receive BA flight numbers

Source: Airline Route

BA will also use some bmi slots at Heathrow to launch flights to Leeds-Bradford and Rotterdam. Interesting...

[Comet]

BA will also use some bmi slots at Heathrow to launch flights to Leeds-Bradford and Rotterdam. Interesting...

Leeds has never done well with flights to London. The Heathrow one was axed, the Gatwick one was short-lived, as was the LCY one. It will indeed be interesting to see how long this lasts.

[RoMax]

I can't see the BRU routes being axed altogether, the flights have very often been full both to LBA and EMA (and from what I've seen of EDI flights they were probably quite well used as well). The LBA-BRU service lost one mid day flight in 2011 but the morning and evening flights continued and were very busy.

What I could see is that SN preferes to operate these routes on their own, but on the other hand...they don't seem to have the right aircraft for that... The RJ85's who seem already too big for these routes (or not?) will be gone, so the RJ100's will be the biggest...unless they lease some more Q400's. But then it doesn't seem such a good idea...they have to save money, don't spend it on routes that may not be a succes with a bigger aircraft.

Or BMIRegional can continue the routes, but I doubt this airline can survive with the route network they currently have...

[Comet]

There hasn't been an SN service into Leeds since Sabena went bankrupt. I don't think SN ever served EMA. A Q400 could be a good aircraft on the Leeds service as the ERJs are often full, there could be scope for a higher capacity aircraft.

Personally I would rather see an airline like SN operating this service. While I think the summer schedule of bmi Regional will be fine I don't know what the long term future will be like. SN seems a more stable operator in the long term. I would like to see Regional succeed as they are very good to fly with and offer free inflight food, something which is getting rarer these days.

[RoMax]

and offer free inflight food, something which is getting rarer these days.

And rather expensive if you also operate ERJ's with high operating costs and operate with an average loadfactor of "only" 62% (which is too low for such a fleet).

In other words, I don't believe BMI Regional can stay allive as they are now. So I wonder what will happen with them and especially their BRU routes.

[Comet]

In the short term I believe the BRU routes will operate (some routes have already been axed at LBA but it said the BRU service was going to continue). But a year from now, who knows? As I have said before, flights on the BRU-LBA route are often full (100% of seats taken) on the ERJ135. I know some who are regulars on that flight. In the north of England, flying is the quickest way to get to Brussels, there is no real competition from that thing under the Channel like there is from the London airports (one reason I believe why LCY no longer has a BRU service).

[sn26567]

bmi regional will keep its brand name and will continue to operate in its current colour scheme after the acquisition by Scottish investment group Sector Aviation Holdings.

bmi regional currently operates 15 ERJ-145s and 4 ERJ-135s on regional services from Aberdeen Dyce (ABZ) to Esbjerg (EBJ), Groningen Eelde (GRQ), London Heathrow (LHR), Manchester Ringway International (MAN) and Norwich (NWI), from East Midlands (EMA) to Brussels National Zaventem (BRU) and Frankfurt International (FRA), from Edinburgh (EDI) to Brussels Ntl, Copenhagen Kastrup (CPH), London Heathrow, Manchester and Zurich Kloten (ZRH), from Glasgow Abbotsinch International (GLA) to Copenhagen Kastrup, from Leeds/Bradford International (LBA) to Brussels Ntl, from London Heathrow to Hanover (HAJ) and Manchester as well as between Manchester and Lyon St. Exupéry (LYS). All of these flights are currently operated using the BD code of current parent bmi british midland and no details are known yet on the planned separation of the two carriers.

Source: CH-Aviation

Thus bmi will not be entirely gobbled by BA and the name bmi will survive, although with a reduced operational scheme.

[sn26567]

IAG CEO Willie Walsh confirms the demise of Bmibaby

British Airways owner IAG is to press ahead with plans to close no-frills airline Bmibaby next month. IAG announced its intention to close Bmibaby shortly after completing the deal to buy Bmi from Lufthansa, subject to a three-month consultation process with Bmibaby staff.

Willie Walsh, IAG's chief executive said: “We completed the employee consultation on August 1 and we have decided to close Bmibaby with effect from September 9.”

IAG had already axed a series of Bmibaby routes from June with the remaining flights from Birmingham and East Midlands to stop flying in September.

The airline had been trying to find a buyer for the no-frills operation but did not have any success – unlike Aberdeen-based Bmi Regional which was sold to Sector Aviation on May 31.

More from ABTN: http://www.abtn.co.uk/news/0617674-wals ... se-bmibaby

[sn26567]

bmi regional expected to continue all routes in winter 2012/2013

bmi regional (BM) has published its first schedule as an independent carrier for the IATA winter schedule 2012/2013 starting October 28 from when it will operate under the BM IATA code.

It plans to continue to serve all routes currently served offering flights:

• from Aberdeen to Esbjerg (EBJ), Groningen Eelde (GRQ), Manchester Ringway International (MAN) and Norwich (NWI),
• from Edinburgh (EDI) to Brussels National Zaventem (BRU), Copenhagen Kastrup (CPH), Manchester and Zurich Kloten (ZRH),
• from East Midlands (EMA) to Brussels and Frankfurt International (FRA),
• from Glasgow Abbotsinch International (GLA) to Copenhagen,
• from Leeds/Bradford International (LBA) to Brussels and
• from Manchester to Lyon St. Exupéry (LYS)

.

Source: CH-Aviation

[DannyVDB]

Is there any information regarding eventual codesharing on the East Midlands and Leeds routes with SN?

Obviously not on the Edinburgh route, but this should not exclude codesharing on the two other routes ...

Regards,
Danny