BMI- To Toronto

greekdude,

Yes, bmi diamond club members can earn points on VS and vice versa. They codeshare on several of our routes.

As for the Mumbai and Delhi routes, I would have thought operating from Manchester would be easier as they already have the crew’s there, there isn’t any direct competition (only routings being via somewhere else) and I hear that PIA do well on their routes to Pakistan.

I would imagine there is something restricting bmi from going to India from LHR too. There usually is! I think there’s some sort of agreement in place already with Air India to allow them to pick up passengers for their onwards flights from LHR to JFK, and I don’t think bmi would be included in this. I would imagine its all to do with BA!

Originally posted by airbusbaby
I don’t really think you can call Athens a European network.

I was not aware that their narrowbody ‘network’ was restricted to only ATH. I thought they operated some other routes as well. Do members of VS’s frequent flyer program gets miles when flying on Bmii flights? Despite all this, I find it mind boggling that Virgin do not have a dedicated Euro network. I’m sure they could more than justify it with their worldwide network. At least operating to the major cities.

With this Bmi Mumbai thing, couldn’t they, in theory, operate that flight out of LHR rather than MAN? Or is there something similar to Bermuda II relegating flights to India that won’t allow them to do this?

I heard recently that when the YYZ route goes down to 4 times a week through next winter, bmi are looking to operate flights to BGI, ANU and UVF (maybe just one destination of those three).

Also, bmi is awaiting a decision with the indian government about flying into Mumbai and Delhi from Manchester. All very interesting!

Found this on the BMI website:

http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/sectionhome.aspx?p=194&Rid=364

Originally posted by greekdude1
Didn’t they have one of these not too long ago, but just decided to shut it down? I think if Virgin really wanted to have feeder routes, they have enough capitol to purchase or lease a few narrow bodies, even if they are second hand.

I don’t really think you can call Athens a European network. They did have something weird on a really old turboprop from Maastricht I think, it didn’t last long. Obviously there’s Virgin Express too, but its not UK based and doesn’t feed any Virgin Atlantic flights. What I mean is, if you call Virgin Atlantic reseravtions and want to connect from somewhere in Europe, they’ll offer you a codeshared bmi flight to get you to your VS flight.

Originally posted by airbusbaby
I think Virgin would have liked a european and domestic carrier to feed their long haul services, but I don’t think its going to be bmi.

Didn’t they have one of these not too long ago, but just decided to shut it down? I think if Virgin really wanted to have feeder routes, they have enough capitol to purchase or lease a few narrow bodies, even if they are second hand.

I think that’s a pretty fair summary. In short, both sides are too proud to lose either of their identities.

I did hear that Richard Branson was seen at Donington Hall, but I don’t think either side could agree anything.

As far as I know, although bmi have made a loss recently, there’s plenty of cash still in the pot to keep things running. So far this year, I think things are getting better.

I can’t see bmi loosing its identity either, its Sir Michael’s baby after all. I think Virgin would have liked a european and domestic carrier to feed their long haul services, but I don’t think its going to be bmi.

bmi wanted a merger, Virgin wanted to takeover. Talks disintegrated. Although bmi is/was a good company, it has had to lower itself to rival certain elements of the low cost market so I am glad that the deal is off the table at the moment. Friends currently at Virgin say they are not particularly keen on a mixing of the two.

Come now, the bmi name is only about 3 years old, and the British Midland name is only thirty odd years old (it was, after all, ‘Derby Airways’ previously).

As to what bmi would have to say about 744’s… well, the original story was that Virgin was going to buy bmi, so I don’t think bmi would have much say in the matter of being all Airbus or not…

Anyway, Dartie, Bermuda II is a rather outdated agreement legislating transatlantic (at least, to the US) traffic rights from LHR. Basically, to prevent the routes becoming oversaturated, only four companies (two from each nation… this in itself is a modification of the original, but more on that in a second) are allowed to sell tickets for flights from LHR to the United States (they are BA, VS, AA and UA). Originally, Bermuda II only allowed three companies to operate transatlantic (at the time they were BOAC [British Overseas Airways Corporation, who merged with the original BEA to form BA] (subsequently BA), Pan Am and TWA). When Pan Am went belly up, United bought their slots at LHR, but the UK government insisted that to allow UA to take over PA’s place in Bermuda II, it be ammended to allow Virgin transatlantic rights from LHR (previously, they’d only operated from Gatwick). TWA later sold their traffic rights to American, as they were short on cash.

That’s why Delta, Continental, US Airways, Northwest etc fly to Gatwick, and not to LHR (Bermuda II only regulating LHR, and no other UK airport).

Air India operate flights from LHR to JFK, amongst others, but tickets on this flight are only avaliable to passengers using LHR as a stopover on the Delhi-New York Air India route. Cathay Pacific have also now been allowed to fly from LHR to the States (again, connecting CX pax only), as Hong Kong granted VS stopover rights on their proposed Kangaroo route.

Bermuda II obviously stops bmi flying transatlantically from LHR, which is why their ORD and IAD flights are from Manchester.

phew, it’s simple, really…

I dont think bmi would merge, as they would not be willing to give up their name as it is a sign of quality in the aviation industry, i think alot of members would agreel.

The problem that this causes is there is no way on earth Virgin, let alone Richard, will give up the Virgin name to go under any other name as it too as a large reputation at stake!

Also bmi are going All Airbus and would not favour 747s in the fleet!

Its not BAA, just typical unfair British Legislation from days gone by!

Why is BAA getting picky on what airlines fly to where?

I used to get excited when the B 767 of Air Canada landed at MAN

I really think Bermuda II is Pathetic.

BMI, Singapore Airlines, PIA etc… shoulg get rights to serve the US Market from Heathrow.

OH DEAR. THE OUTLOOK MAY BE GRIMISH!!!!!!!!

I can see Air Canada pulling out of GLA if the Zoom services hit the mark.

Short answers: No and never happened.

BMI are actively fighting for the removal of many of the restrictions that exist at Heathrow. I think they are trying to get some moved this year.
Ther merger never really got above ground level I think, although it is obviously still a possibility.

Two questions which kind of relate to this thread?

1) Do bmi operate long haul out of Heathrow?

2) Whatever happened with the possible merger between bmi and Virgin Atlantic?

AAAAHHHHH. So thats the truth behind it. Cheeeers