BMI Baby Closing Down

[Butts]

Following the takeover of British Midland by IAG(BA/IBERIA) the press association have just announced that BMI Baby is going to be closed down as it has lost £100 Million over the last four years.

Buyers had been sought under its previous Lufthansa ownership but to no avail.

BMI Regional they are more hopeful of finding a buyer.

I bet FLYBE are rubbing their hands at this news - I wondered why I had an e-mail saying they were starting an Edinburgh to East Midlands route.

Standby for a hike in Fares

makes you wonder how many TOC's would go to the wall without the Governments £5 Billion subsidy !!

 

[Ascot]

Easyjet are starting the Birmingham-Belfast International route from late this year. I would love it if FlyBE took over the bmiBaby routes since then I can bank more miles with one airline.


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[trentside]

This will come as a significant blow to East Midlands Airport, where BMI Baby have a substantial presence - I wouldn't imagine it will take Ryanair and Jet2 long to fill the gaps though.

 

[starrymarkb]

Ryanair won't fly to Belfast City though as the runway is too short for a fully loaded B738

 

[WestCoast]

Flybe and Monarch have already announced new bases at bmibaby's East Midlands hub and it appears Flybe will be covering 5 leading bmibaby routes; Amsterdam, Paris CDG, Belfast City, Jersey, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Monarch are covering leisure routes to Alicante, Palma, Faro and Malaga. Plus, I imagine Jet2 will be looking at the leisure routes as well. Ryanair may pick up niche routes to places like Alghero and Malta.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Ryanair won't fly to Belfast City though as the runway is too short for a fully loaded B738

Ryanair had successful domestic routes to Belfast City for a few years, but the lack of promised runway extension made them leave and that's when Baby moved there. The 738s were restricted to 156 seats when I flew on the Liverpool to Belfast City route, and the tickets were usually pretty cheap (under 10 pound return I always paid).

BTW maybe this thread should be moved to the Other Transport forum where other aviation matters are discussed.

 

[Butts]

Blimey the thread has appeared in The "Southern League" - my main concern is that Domestic Prices will increase due to the lack of competition especially on Midlands to Edinburgh/Glasgow where FLYBE will now have a virtual monopoly.

I was looking at X-Mas flights(just released by Flybe) from EDI to BHX out 24th back 26th now costing best part of £80 return.

Last year it could be had for £50 return which although still cheap compared to Rail (1st Class) is a hefty rise.

 

[Badger]

But but but what will replace the music in the skyrail ;-;

 

[Butts]

But but but what will replace the music in the skyrail ;-;

If your talking about Birmingham it's been Emirates for quite a while not BMI Baby

 

[YorkshireRider]

makes you wonder how many TOC's would go to the wall without the Governments £5 Billion subsidy !!

none, given they would never have agreed to the franchise in the first place without the subsidy.

 

[richw]

Flybe were also very quick to fill gaps left by air south west last year from newquay

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[Heinz57]

Wow this comes as quite a shocker. Shame they couldn't find a buyer. This comes only a year or so after they open a new base. And expand their East Midlands hub.

It is also indeed bad news for EMA, Ryanair are probably jumping for joy, they'll dominate the airport now.

And another one bites the dust!

 

[dvboy]

Easyjet are starting the Birmingham-Belfast International route from late this year. I would love it if FlyBE took over the bmiBaby routes since then I can bank more miles with one airline.


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But bmibaby moved it to Belfast City at the start of last year, which was an improvement. Flybe also fly to City.

 

[Ascot]

But bmibaby moved it to Belfast City at the start of last year, which was an improvement. Flybe also fly to City.

Indeed they did, they had a big "poaching" session too trying to drag regular FlyBe customers over to bmiBaby (was when the schedule was too patchy to switch). EasyJet have a few aircraft based out of Belfast International too which makes it easier for them to build on that existing base.

 

[starrymarkb]

A big issue for BMI Baby was their fleet of leased elderly 737 Classics when all their rivals are using the more fuel efficent 737NG or A32x. If they are burning a lot more fuel then Easyjet/Ryanair at current fuel prices they can't compete.

Worse they operated the B737-500, which has a similar capacity (130 vs 118) but twice the fuel burn of the Embraer E195's used by Flybe...

With leased aircraft there is no real value to the company and that is why no-one is interested. Jet2 are probably the closest match for a suitor but they have ruled out a bid.

Flybe have also ruled themselves out of buying BMI Regional, which is not surprising, several of the ex BA ERJs spent a long time stored at Exeter while Flybe tried desperately to get rid of them (50 set regional jets have horrific economics, as British European can attest from their short time operating the CRJ-200) with BMI Regional being the eventual buyer.

 

[WatcherZero]

Frankly its just cheaper to move your own staff and planes in to take over than to buy the company (its debts and liabilities) itself.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It was noticeable that BMI Baby were well known for quite heavy volume television advertising in certain regions, in an attempt to keep up their profile with intending airline passengers.

 

[WestCoast]

Indeed, they sponsored the ITV Granada weather for about 5 years, with that infamous jingle!

However, the sponsorship ended when bmibaby closed their Manchester base last year (they also closed the Cardiff base at the same time). East Midlands has remained the only base of any significance. The terminated routes at Manchester were very quickly covered by airlines such as Flybe, easyJet and Jet2.

 

[trentside]

I took a flight with BMI Baby back in April 2011, and took a few images for an Airliners trip report which I never completed (due to being taken ill at Edinburgh, and not finishing my trip).

I've uploaded them here, and hope they're of interest;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trentsidetraveller/sets/72157629971686169/

 

[dvboy]

Flybe have sent an email to their customers to say they are bringing forward plans for extra services from East Midlands airport and Belfast City - Birmingham.

 

[richw]

Flybe have sent an email to their customers to say they are bringing forward plans for extra services from East Midlands airport and Belfast City - Birmingham.

Unless I'm misreading your post why would anyone fly from east midlands to Birmingham, be quicker to drive or use the train time you consider check in times etc.

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[Ascot]

Unless I'm misreading your post why would anyone fly from east midlands to Birmingham, be quicker to drive or use the train time you consider check in times etc.

2

Flybe are adding more Belfast to Birmingham flights & adding Belfast to East Mids. There's no passenger revenue flights from East Mids to Birmingham.

 

[richw]

Flybe are adding more Belfast to Birmingham flights & adding Belfast to East Mids. There's no passenger revenue flights from East Mids to Birmingham.

Thanks the way the previous post was worded implied they were adding more services from both East Mids and Belfast, to Birmingham. didnt think it sounded correct

 

[trentside]

There's some good news on the BMI Regional front;

RNS Number : 0646D
International Cons Airlines Group
10 May 2012

BMI REGIONAL SALE
International Airlines Group (IAG) has signed a binding agreement to sell bmi Regional to Sector Aviation Holdings Ltd (SAH) for a total consideration of £8 million in cash. The sale includes all bmi Regional's fixed assets and long-term liabilities, including owned and operating lease aircraft.

bmi Regional operates a fleet of 18 Embraer regional jets on scheduled services throughout the UK and Northern Europe.

The sale is conditional upon CAA approval and it is anticipated that ownership will be transferred to SAH within two weeks.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said: "This deal provides a future for bmi Regional and should secure around 330 jobs".

Sector Aviation is a consortium of businessmen with considerable aviation experience including the team previously referred to as Granite Aviation, led by Ian Woodley. The business is being funded by Stephen and Peter Bond who are also investors in Loganair.

ends

May 10, 2012

Notes to Editors
IAG's purchase of bmi from Lufthansa was completed on April 20, 2012

bmi Regional is based in Aberdeen and flies to 14 destinations from UK regional airports

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-18017863

 

[WestCoast]

Well done to Granite in Aberdeen, as the last I heard was that they were struggling to finance the deal and it was looking likely that bmi Regional would suffer the same fate as bmibaby. It will be interesting to see how this proceeds, especially as Sector/Granite is essentially led by bmi Regional's old management team when they were Business Air. I believe that they will become the "new" bmi, as all rghts to the brand will be transferred to them.

 

[rb311]

Although the potential saving of bmi regional's business is welcome news, the shutting down of bmi baby, the breaking up of bmi in total, and the collapse of other UK dmoestic carriers and the struggling of ones that survive is a result of the current and previous governments' ridiculous attitudes towards aviation.

By clobbering domestic air travel with taxes, greedy and stupefacted ministers are destroying profitable and unsubsidised businesses which offered customers products they wanted with heavily tax subsidised companies providing a transport product which is expensive, slow, crowded and unpleasant..

And for those who can't stomach today's railways, the motorist is expected to pay ever more for fuel and drive their cars on roads that aren't fit for tractors..

Well, I guess that's progress.

 

[Failed Unit]

By clobbering domestic air travel with taxes, greedy and stupefacted ministers are destroying profitable and unsubsidised businesses which offered customers products they wanted with heavily tax subsidised companies providing a transport product which is expensive, slow, crowded and unpleasant..

.

But Ryanair is subsidised is it? the rest is certainly true of them.

 

[starrymarkb]

But Ryanair is subsidised is it? the rest is certainly true of them.

Indeed. Ryanair do try and get airports to subsidise them... and threaten to leave if they don't get their way!

 

[WestCoast]

Airlines can't be subsidised directly by national or regional governments under EU regulations (unless it's a Public Service Obligation route contract). However, indirect 'sponsorship' by, for example, tourist boards or airport operators is very much tolerated. Trouble is, in some European countries (and you can probably guess which ones) the airport operator is the Government..

Ryanair can't really get juicy deals in the UK and Ireland anymore and this market is becoming less and less important to them. Not relying on the UK and Ireland is key to their business model. Ryanair doesn't have UK domestic flights anymore, but it has swiftly been building up routes in Spain, Italy and Greece. They don't pay market rates there and people in those countries are only too willing to go for cheaper travel options (especially on routes like the Canaries and Balearics to mainland Spain and equivalents elsewhere).

Why's this relevant to bmibaby? The UK market for low cost air travel is tough and the winners are those who diversify. easyJet are starting more ambitious routes like Manchester to Tel Aviv and Luton to Amman. Less obvious but potential for high profits! If they could get permission to fly to Russia, they would.

In short, easyJet are targeting fresh markets and routes with business passengers and/or those who aren't put off by higher prices, while Ryanair are bombarding the recession hit eurozone and taking advantage of financial difficulties of airlines in places like Hungary where the national carrier went bankrupt.

 

[Heinz57]

Ahh so I see bmi regional appears to be relativley safe then? That's at least some good news!

Such a shame there was no buyer for bmibaby.

EDIT - It says in the article that the buyer is taking on board the branding and the flybmi website. I'm a little confused now, does this mean that the IAG bmi will need new branding and new website, or is it just going to be all absorbed into BA? Or will it also retain the bmi branding?

 

[Sun!]

BA will quickly asorb bmi mainline. It should be complete by the start of the winter season.
A difference I haven't seen anyone mention in relation to both is that bmi regional is profitable and bmibaby is loss making with no light at the end of the tunnel in sight.

Granite Aviation have bought the full rights to the bmi name, branding and website.