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By: - 10th January 2002 at 17:31 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
RE: bmi British Midland set up low cost subsiduary
Some more good news for EMA, not 1 but 2 low-cost airlines here next year. This makes sense for BMI, they obviously have over capacity (6 aircraft are stored at EMA!) and as the low cost airlines are the only ones currently making a profit, this seems a great idea.
Lets hope both airlines are successful at EMA.
By: - 10th January 2002 at 17:44 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
RE: bmi British Midland set up low cost subsiduary
BMI already sells ticket at unbeatable prices. So I don´t see needs to build such a risky thing. When a regular airline (high costs) wants to create a lower cost one is for specific purposes and these are shifting flights operated at higher costs to its lower cost version and safe lots of money. They tend to reduce the sice of the higher cost airline and operate most of the flights in lower cost version. Thats what Spanair is doing over hear with Spanair Link.
By: - 10th January 2002 at 19:00 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
RE: bmi British Midland set up low cost subsiduary
Isn't it a bit of a coincidence, that Bmi who have never really shown any interest of starting low cost operations suddenly change there minds when GO announce that they will start operations from EMA?For years they have dominated the airport and have got rid of any real competition such as Aer Lingus,KLM UK which all starte opperations from there.Really i think its a case of Bmi getting a bit jealos of GO who would be competition, and trying to knock then out of EMA!
Over a period you might see bmi's prices gradually gettig back to there normal price.
By: - 26th January 2002 at 08:48 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The new name-bmibaby
I'm not sure if you know ths,but the new name for bmi's low cost airline is bmibaby! http://www.flybmi.com/nofrills/index.asp
By: - 27th January 2002 at 17:42 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
RE: The new livery-can it get any worse?
Below is a link to a site which shows the bmibaby livery,can it really get any worse?Funny thing is that the picture shows a 737 which is the aircraft they will operate,but G-MIDF is an A321!!!
http://www.alasta.nl/news/2002/20020123b.html
By: - 28th January 2002 at 19:11 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
RE: The new livery-can it get any worse?
It looks bad, I'll admit. I noticed the G-MIDF reg as well, bit strange.
There were a few ideas rolling around over at airliners.net and this guy designed two liveries similar to the bmi one at present but which were pink and blue for the baby thing and as there were to be two aircraft.
Now the pink thing sounds bad, but it actually looked quite good.
I'll be a reguarlar at EMA now that I've started flying from there so I'm hoping to get a shot of the colours very early on and I'll post here when I do.
Posts: 2,253
By: Bhoy - 10th January 2002 at 16:27
This from BBC Business news:
Thursday, 10 January, 2002, 11:45 GMT
[h1]BMI to launch low-cost airline[/h1]
[img src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1575000/images/_1577322_airbus320300.jpg"]
BMI plans to compete head-on with discount airlines
BMI British Midland plans to launch a low-cost airline in time for Easter.
The airline will operate out of its East Midlands hub, flying to European destinations including Barcelona, Nice, Palma, Malaga, Alicante and Faro.
The announcement comes at a tough time for traditional, full-price carriers, which have suffered a sharp drop in demand after 11 September on top of earlier problems.
Discount airlines are riding out the downturn by stimulating volume on certain routes with cut-down prices.
Both Easyjet and Ryanair have seen passenger numbers increase in recent months, while woes continue to mount for traditional airlines.
On Wednesday, British Airways told the BBC it was slashing short-haul routes and attempting to refocus on trans-Atlantic business customers.
Net discount
BMI said tickets would be priced competitively with other discount airlines and could start at £25 each way.
Further discounts will be offered for fares booked over the internet.
The new airline will be set up as a subsidiary of BMI, which will continue to operate its full-service, scheduled service alongside the budget airline.
Bookings for the new airline will begin later this month, with a service due to start on 23 March.
Separate venture
The discount airline will be set up as a separate venture, but will be supported by existing BMI resources and staff.
The company's finance director, Nigel Turner, will take responsibility for the new airline at board level.
He is not, however, the airline's chief executive designate, stressed the spokesman.
"BMI is launching this new airline in response to a clear market opportunity and consumer demand," said Mr Turner.
Surprise announcement
BMI's announcement on Thursday seems to contradict denials by chief executive Austin Reid last autumn that it would become a low-cost airline.
"We are certainly not going to be a no-frills carrier... I think that we do clearly have to look at our cost base, the key to being successful in the airline industry is to get your costs down," Mr Reid told the BBC in November.
The company spokesman defended Mr Reid by saying that BMI would continue to offer its full-service airline.
"I don't think that Austin Reid was being disingenuous, he was just rather misunderstood," he told BBC News Online.
BMI's full-service airline still plans to break into the trans-Atlantic route if air regulations, such as Bermuda II, are revised.
"Nothing changes at all for BMI's full-service airline," said the spokesman.
The company will release more details on the new airline - including its name, livery, additional destinations and introductory ticket offers - next week.
Lessons learned
BMI is also determined not to "make the same mistakes that British Airways made," said the spokesman.
BA set up the low-cost airline, Go, but then admitted its strategy to compete in both the full-service and no-frills markets was not working.
It sold Go for a profit last year.
"[BMI] is a different creature from British Airways," said the spokesman, adding that the new airline would only be run from the East Midlands airport to keep costs down.
"It won't be a massive mega-hub with a regional network," he said.
Go challenge
BMI itself is also currently challenging Go, which recently announced plans to operate flights from East Midlands airport, BMI's home base.
BMI is questioning Go's application to fly from the East Midlands to Prague by seeking clarification on a bilateral capacity agreement between the Czech Republic and the UK.
"We are concerned about the wider issues as well," said Simon Gregory, BMI's marketing director.
The company is also looking for clarification on other agreements between the UK and European countries outside the EU.
BMI is the second largest airline in the UK, after British Airways.