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?

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.

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

Cheers guys!

Exactly Mark! Similar number of routes as the Summer, minus Alicante, Naples & Nice. Frequency axeing must be in order so!

Shamrock, MIDL is still being operated albeit on a variety of routes. It appears it hasn’t got a fixed schedule and operates as a sort of “back-up”. A Dublin regular in it’s prime days, however how often we’ll see it in the future is another matter. I’m sure it was a strange sight to see the A330 parked up. I’m assuming it was remotely parked or are the usual 42/44 gates capable of handling it?