Bye bye Baby..

[EGTC]

It's expected BMI Baby will cease ops in September.
Such ashame, I always liked them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17940539

[MSR777]

That is indeed a shame. Only flown with them once, but it was a nicer experience than Ryanair. Always sad to any airline go, and you have to feel for the staff, especially with the economy like it is

[Comet]

So bad that a buyer wasn't found, awful news that so many jobs will go. I never flew with them but I had hoped they would manage to find a buyer and keep flying.

[Fedaykin]

Disaster for me! I live in Loughborough and travel to Edinburgh and Glasgow often for work. BMI is the only airline to fly those routes from East Midlands Airport.

Hopefully another airline will pick up the slots but oh by all the gods don't let it be Ryanair!!!!

[Dazza]

Hopefully another airline will pick up the slots but oh by all the gods don't let it be Ryanair!!!!

You might be in luck, apparently FlyBe are going to be expanding at EMA by picking up some of routes flown by BMIBaby, from June i think...

-Daz

[Deano]

Not from June, Daz, but from the start of the winter schedule. October 28th.
Routes include Amsterdam, Paris CDG, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Jersey for starters.

All the very best to the bmi guys, I've been there before and it is not a nice situation to be in. Lets hope bmi Regional can find a buyer before it's too late for them.

[Dazza]

Thanks for the update Deano, its great to see FlyBe doing more routes from my 'home drome', although, as has already been said, it will be a shame to see WW disappear. I wish all the Staff/CabinCrews/Aircrews the best of luck finding onward employment...

-Daz

[waco]

Could I just echo Dazza's comments .....with very best wishes to all staff concerned.

I have more than one version of that particular tee-shirt......I do know how you feel.

[Doors4]

Hopefully the WW guys can pick up positions with the expansion planned by BE.

As has been said by others previously I have been in their position several times too and it's not nice. Good luck to them all.

[Comet]

All the very best to the bmi guys, I've been there before and it is not a nice situation to be in. Lets hope bmi Regional can find a buyer before it's too late for them.

I think, from what I have read, that it is looking reasonably positive for bmi Regional. I truly hope so, as I would hate to see another airline fold and more job losses and I have flights booked with them in September. They are very good to fly with.

[Deano]

No worries, Daz

Doors, the only way the employees will pick up positions is if they stay open. Should they close down then there is very little chance, if any that the employees will gain positions with us. We're already overcrewed in the pilot department. We are still waiting to hear from the company what the plans are as far as EMA goes. The winter routes have been announced as above but all the press releases doesn't say anything about beyond winter 12/13.

Comet, fingers crossed. I know they have a company called Granite looking to buy them, but in what guise is anyone's guess.

[Comet]

I don't know much about Granite, but I think they are headed by someone who has been in the regional business before. It might be the same ones who ran the commuter airline that was taken by bmi and became bmi Regional, but I can't remember where I read that. If it is them, then hopefully if they buy Regional it would provide the similar level of service it provides now - in-flight snacks free of charge for example.

[tommyinyork]

Suprised EZY or LS didn't buy them.

[by738]

Ageing non owned aircraft. Im less surprised. If they wanted WW routes, they could have just opened up their own. Was never going to happen.

[tommyinyork]

Some a/c may head to jet2 ?

[Fedaykin]

Ageing non owned aircraft. Im less surprised. If they wanted WW routes, they could have just opened up their own. Was never going to happen.

Agreed the BMI Baby fleet are elderly hand me downs from BMI.

[NightFlight]

I never realised... Sad to see an airline go and I really hope that alternative positions will be available at BMI. BMI Baby features big at East Midlands Airport, so I'll be interested to see how they fill the gap.

[cockerhoop]

it was all down hill since they withdrew their excellent long haul service from Manchester

[Doors4]

It was all downhill when the management lost the plot on dealing with the market around them rapidly changing and long before MAN longhaul which IMHO was part of the downhill slope no-matter how much any of us wanted it to work.

Deano, thanks for the reply, what you say makes complete sense if BE are currently overcrewed. I had assumed (wrongly) that if BE were expanding EMA that they would need to take on flight crew, cabin crew, etc., and that perhaps some of the WW crew could be taken on.

[Amiga500]

Anyone know the rational for a flight on a Dash 8 with FlyBe being consistently twice the price of an approximate equivalent on Easyjet?!? (I know Belfast city airport landing charges are extortionate, but it doesn't come close to explaining the full difference.)


Surely the economics of a 319 are not twice as good as a Q400?!?

[Deano]

Not all the tickets will be "twice as cheap". EasyJet's pricing policy contains several steps, sell x amount of tickets at x amount and the price moves up to step two, sell x amount of tickets at x price and the price moves to step 3 and so on. Flybe's contain about 2 steps. EasyJet have more seats at it's disposal to get people on board spending their hard earned cash. EasyJet needs to fill 82%-86% of their Airbus 319s/320s to break even at this low price. Flybe's business model is different to Easyjet, they operate high frequency routes which gives the business passenger options.

[Doors4]

The rationale in simple terms is surely to get as much money for seats as Joe Public is willing to pay and I would pay far more to fly with BE than EZY (just my opinion).

Now that I only fly for leisure I fly with BE a lot and generally find the old Economy and new Essentials and economy fares are very reasonable.