bmi – 'The Latest Events'

I thought they had to give up slots @LHR due to the BMed takeover as some of them were originally owned by BA??? or i seem to remember BA paying for some BMI LHR slots too?

Correct. The actual transfer was at some time in the future though, so the operational details have been very sketchy…

I thought they had to give up slots @LHR due to the BMed takeover as some of them were originally owned by BA??? or i seem to remember BA paying for some BMI LHR slots too?

Well I guess it was expected that there would be some axing/reducing out of LHR domestics but im a bit surprised bout the Alicante & Nice.

Lets hope bmi dont reduce the regions anymore before the summer season as the 7% increase in rail fares to London may start making people thinking more about flying LBA-LHR! It should also mean that the remaining evening flight will have a higher load factor as having 2 flights half an hour apart or something like that is stupid, eg having 80 an a 319 and 20 on an ERJ just makes more sense to have 100 in the 319 and only operate 1 flight!

Well the people of Inverness see the cancellation of their Heathrow service as having less to do with “lack of demand” as an attempt by Bmi to free up slots at LHR for other projects…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7169480.stm

Which clearly isn’t the case as bmi are starting an 8th daily LHR-MAN by moving the current slot sitting LHR-LBA across the pennines.

A very contradictory press release at best, an outright lie at worst… 😡

Well the people of Inverness see the cancellation of their Heathrow service as having less to do with “lack of demand” as an attempt by Bmi to free up slots at LHR for other projects…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7169480.stm

Summer 2008

From flybmi.com

bmi goes double-daily on Moscow flights – airline announces changes to summer 2008 timetable
3 January 2008

bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is to double the number of services between London Heathrow and Moscow Domodedovo from 30 March 2008 it was announced today (3 January).

The additional daily service, which launches at the start of the summer 2008 timetable, builds on the success of the current daily Moscow flight which launched in October 2006 and marked bmi’s first venture into the mid haul market.

The new timetable will also see the introduction of an additional late evening service between Heathrow and Manchester taking the total to eight flights a day, as well as an improved schedule for the three times daily service between Heathrow and Durham Tees Valley.

Peter Spencer, bmi managing director, said: “In launching the summer 2008 timetable we are pleased to be adding an extra flight to Moscow from Heathrow. Since launching the route less than eighteen months ago we have experienced encouraging growth and we now feel that by introducing an extra service we can provide an even more attractive schedule, thus widening its appeal to both point to point and connecting traffic at Heathrow.”

From the start of the summer schedules flights between Heathrow and Leeds Bradford will reduce to four times daily with the suspension of the late evening flight, while the once a day service from Heathrow to Inverness will be suspended and the summer-only services to Alicante and Nice will not operate in 2008.

Peter Spencer said: “Charges such as the punitive APD (air passenger duty) that affect domestic travellers in particular have made fares higher, and the inflation-busting airport charge increases that have been implemented at Heathrow over the last few years – which are set to grow even faster from April 2008 – puts further pressure on short haul services like Inverness. We are very disappointed that there has been insufficient demand to operate a viable profitable operation on this route but load factors have not been sufficiently high enough to sustain the service.

“We acknowledge the efforts that Inverness Airport has made to assist bmi in the continuation of the route through the level of fees at Inverness Airport. We also appreciate their lobbying regarding proposed fees and increases at Heathrow and the disproportionate structure of charging adopted by BAA. However, despite these efforts the route is just not a viable proposition due to the cost of the operation and the limited passenger volumes that it attracts.”

Passengers with reservations on services which are being suspended will be offered a full refund or reaccommodation on another service.

ends

note to editors

• Moscow schedule (daily) *
BD895 depart Heathrow 2210, arrive Moscow Domodedovo 0500 *
BD896 depart Moscow Domodedovo 0645, arrive Heathrow 0750 *
BD891 depart Heathrow 0925, arrive Moscow Domodedovo 1610
BD894 depart Moscow Domodedovo 1655, arrive Heathrow 1815

* new services – commence 30 March 2008

To sum-up:
1. Heathrow-Domodedovo (to go 2 daily)
2. Heathrow-Manchester (to go 8 daily)
3. Heathrow-Leeds Bradford (to go 4 daily)
4. Heathrow-Teesside (change of schedule)
5. Heathrow-Alicante (axed)
6. Heathrow-Inverness (axed)
7. Heathrow-Nice (axed)

What do you guys make of these changes?

I believe the A319 in question had an engine failure after take-off from Heathrow on the 9th, Andrew may be able to confirm that.

G-DBCD/Midland Ops

Has Midland been having problems with G-DBCD recently? According to ACARS, on the 9th November, it operated BD96 LHR-BHD at 19:18 but returned to LHR at 20:05 as BD096R. Two days later, on Sunday 11th November it operated the BD692 LHR-INV at 16:23 but again returned as BD692R at 16:50. Is this ‘R’ callsign commonly used by bmi for returns? Anyone know why these flights took place?

G-MIDO continues to operate the Moscow flights.
G-MIDT is currently operating the Cairo flights.
G-MIDY has joined the ex-BMed routes.

London Heathrow-Dammam

Quoting flybmi.com

bmi to launch services from London Heathrow to Dammam
6 November 2007

– airline expands network in Saudi Arabia and Middle East

bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is to launch flights to Dammam in Saudi Arabia it was announced today (Tuesday 6 November).

Nigel Turner, bmi chief executive, unveiled plans at a press event in Egypt to mark the start of daily direct services from Heathrow to Cairo. The news comes at the end of a week when bmi introduced 17 new routes, the largest ever expansion of its route network.

The new Dammam service, set to begin in early 2008, will operate three times a week on a wide-bodied Airbus A330 aircraft and is expected to build on the success of flights to bmi’s existing Saudi destinations – Riyadh, which launched in September 2005, and Jeddah in April 2006.

“This is one of the most exciting periods in bmi’s 70 year history,” said Nigel Turner. “We have just introduced 17 new destinations from Heathrow at the start of the winter timetable including a daily non-stop service to Cairo. We are also delighted to be announcing further developments which are marking our transition into a truly global airline. Next year bmi will be serving 41 destinations from London Heathrow.

“Over the past two years we have established a highly successful presence in the Saudi market and are very pleased to extend services to include Dammam, strengthening our position in the region. Dammam is major centre within the petroleum industry and is at the heart of key business and economic growth. This is the first of a number of new destinations which we are examining and we look forward to making further announcements soon.”

In the past week bmi has launched services to: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Aleppo, Syria; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Amman, Jordan; Ankara, Turkey; Baku, Azerbaijan; Beirut, Lebanon; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Cairo, Egypt; Dakar, Senegal; Damascus, Syria; Ekaterinburg, Russia; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Khartoum, Sudan; Tbilisi, Georgia; Tehran, Iran; Yerevan, Armenia.

ends

note to editors

• schedule (services operate via Riyadh)
depart Heathrow 11:30, arrive Dammam 22:35 (Mon, Weds, Sat)

depart Dammam 00:01, arrive Heathrow 05:55 (Tues, Thurs)
depart Dammam 00:50, arrive Heathrow 06:45 (Sun)

• the service will be operated by an Airbus A330, with 42 business seats and 156 economy seats.

Well from next Sunday bmi will add an additional daily frequency on DUB-LHR.

BD125/126 will be a lunch time flight.

Believe the flight will be operated by a GLA-rostered A319.

Flight From Departs To Arrives Type
BD 16 LHR 6:55am GLA 8:20am 319
BD 3 GLA 9:05am LHR 10:35am 319
BD 125 LHR 11:15am DUB 12:35pm 319
BD 126 DUB 1:15pm LHR 2:35pm 319
BD 8 LHR 3:15pm GLA 4:35pm 319
BD 11 GLA 5:10pm LHR 6:30pm 319
BD 12 LHR 7:20pm GLA 8:45pm 319
BD 15 GLA 9:25pm LHR 10:40pm 319

Flight From Departs To Arrives Type
BD 121 LHR 7:00am DUB 8:20am 320
BD 122 DUB 9:10am LHR 10:30am 320
BD 4 LHR 11:20am GLA 12:45pm 320
BD 7 GLA 1:25pm LHR 2:50pm 320
BD 129 LHR 3:35pm DUB 4:55pm 320
BD 130 DUB 5:40pm LHR 7:05pm 320
BD 133 LHR 7:50pm DUB 9:10pm 320
BD 134 DUB 9:55pm LHR 11:00pm 320

Also they have put there A330 delivery back to 2009.

Well from next Sunday bmi will add an additional daily frequency on DUB-LHR.

BD125/126 will be a lunch time flight.

I love working with bmi but I cant stand BA I really hope this doesnt happen!

Manchester-Jeddah

I’ve been browsing the Star Alliance Schedules and came across these interesting flights:

BD 765 MAN-JED 11:00 20:15 332 (04/12, 25/12)
BD 766 JED-MAN 02:55 07:00 332 (05/12, 26/12)

The above-mentioned flight don’t appear to be bookable via www.flybmi.com