bmi Regional

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]bmi connects East Midlands to Frankfurt

bmi Regional has launched flights from East Midlands Airport to Frankfurt. The new route will commence operation on 31 October this year with further connections into Germany available through routes with parent company Lufthansa. Flights will operate three times a day from Monday to Friday and one on Sunday, using a 49-seat Emraer 145. “Germany has always been a popular destination and by offering direct flights from East Midlands Airport to Frankfurt we can meet the increasing demand from business and leisure travellers," said Steven Griffiths, business director at bmi Regional. “With the frequent, convenient flight times, business travellers will now be able to complete their business in Frankfurt in a day, whilst leisure travellers can take advantage of the service for many of the attractions Frankfurt has to offer, including the world famous Christmas Market that launches in November".[/textarea]
http://www.traveldaily.co.uk/AsiaPacifi ... tion=23359

Excellent news and proof of the LH statement of a few months ago that they wished to connect more UK airports with Germany using bmiRegional.

The obvious question now is will there be similar routes to other UK airports?

 

[Bigman]

Has anyone stopped to think about where they are going to find an aircraft to do this service? Logic seems to dictate that something else somewhere may get chopped to provide the 145 for this route. My guess would be LBA-EDI.

 

[Seasider]

BMR have quite a few ERJ (don't know exactly how many) so I think that they will manage with a "Tweaking" of the timetable. The EDI - LBA aircraft does other services as well.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The chairman of bmiRegional was on local news recently discussing plans for EMA. Consolidation followed by growth with new domestic and European destinations to come were his words. No timescales though.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I wish this guy the best of luck, it would be great if the bmi brand can live on and hopefully in the future start some serious growth.

BMI operation is set to expand at East Midlands Airport, says boss Ian Woodley

The man behind the rescue of the BMI airline brand says he is confident the business can grow at East Midlands Airport.

Ian Woodley led the takeover of BMI Regional from International Airlines Group (IAG), ensuring the internationally-renowned 40-year-old BMI (British Midland International) name lives on.

Speaking yesterday, he said: "We have bought it so we can expand it."

The brand's future had faced uncertainty after the £172.5 million takeover of the Castle Donington-based BMI business by IAG earlier this year.

This had followed a disastrous takeover by German carrier Lufthansa, which was unable to plug huge losses totalling around £3 million a week.

The largest part of the business, BMI Mainline, was absorbed into British Airways, also owned by IAG, thanks to its highly-prized take off and landing slots at Heathrow.

Low-cost arm BMI Baby, the best-known part of the business in the Midlands, closed last week after being unable to find a buyer with the loss of more than 300 Leicestershire jobs.

BMI Regional, which specialises in short-haul business routes, was bought by a Aberdeen-based consortium led by Mr Woodley for £8 million in June.

As reported by the Leicester Mercury yesterday, BMI Regional has relocated its head office from Aberdeen to East Midlands Airport.

Mr Woodley, who has become executive chairman of BMI Regional, certainly has the credentials to steer an expansive course against the head winds of a recession and tough competition.

He set up Business Air in 1987 which was bought by BMI nine years later and became BMI Regional.

The 55-year-old said he would be keeping the BMI Regional name, with the possibility of dropping the 'Regional' part in the near future.

"It's a very iconic brand and has been for a long time," he said. "OK, it's had a rocky history recently, but it's very highly regarded by staff and passengers and we are very happy to keep it.

"BMI Regional is a bit of a sub-brand. But we have acquired the whole BMI brand, which we are able to use if we wish from next April.

"We still have a huge regional airline industry in Europe. There's around 70 to 80. They don't normally compete with each other. They fly from regional airports to major hubs where they connect with bigger carriers and provide a feeder service.

"For instance, we fly from Frankfurt to East Midlands and vice versa."

The airline also flies to Brussels from East Midlands, and currently operates more than 10 routes from Aberdeen, Bristol and Newcastle.

Yesterday, it announced it would begin routes from Aberdeen to Bristol and Manchester to Antwerp from October 29.

The IAG takeover of the BMI group has led to the loss of hundreds of jobs at East Midlands Airport and BMI group's nearby Donington Hall corporate headquarters.

BMI Regional's creation of 20 jobs in Leicestershire since its rescue, as well as the promise of another 20 over the next six weeks, has helped to offset this. These jobs, originally announced in June, will be based at a new 8,000 sq ft office complex at Pegasus Business Park, next to East Midlands Airport. They will include posts created following a decision to relocate the airline's call centre from India.

The carrier also has 30 air crew and eight engineers based at East Midlands Airport and employs around 350 people in total.

Mr Woodley said the office site would have room to accommodate up to 100 people.

"Depending on our performance, we will look to increase our manpower and look to place these jobs at our head office," he said.

"However, there's been a lot of uncertainty about BMI Regional. What we are doing today is trying to dispel that uncertainty. We are moving into a new head office at East Midlands.

"But this year is about consolidating the business. We have had to separate it from BMI Mainline, which will have been completed fully by the end of November.

"Next year we will look to begin more route development."

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/B ... story.html

 

[Ray Finkle]

bmi Regional Cancels East Midlands – Frankfurt Service from Sep 2013

by JL


Update at 0740GMT 07AUG13

bmi Regional from 02SEP13 is cancelling East Midlands – Frankfurt operation, where it currently operates 6 times a week on board Embraer ERJ135 aircraft. Existing schedule until 01SEP13 as follow.

BM1263 EMA1150 – 1435FRA ER3 x6
BM1264 FRA1520 – 1600EMA ER3 x6

http://airlineroute.net/2013/08/07/bm-emafra-sep13/

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]bmi regional codeshare widens horizons for East Midlands business & leisure travellers

Today (14 April 2014) , Brussels Airlines adds East Midlands to its extensive global network thanks to a codeshare partnership with bmi regional, the UK’s most punctual scheduled airline. The East Midlands to Brussels route enables business and leisure travellers to connect eleven times each week at the Belgian carrier’s hub, Brussels Airport, with its flights serving Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North America.

The move further strengthens Brussels Airlines’ network presence in the United Kingdom and is the second codeshare agreement between the two airlines, the first – on bmi regional’s new Newcastle to Brussels route – launched in March.[/textarea]
Full article: http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk/news/a ... travellers

This code share is a very useful addition to the existing bmi regional EMA-BRU route one would think.

 

[Aviador]

Looking back to when Bmi Regional was under it's previous ownership, they offered codeshares before.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/art ... -000-extra

EMA-BRU will increase to 3 x daily on weekdays next summer.