bmi Regional to be sold

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    Hippocampus
    Participant

    The memo below was issued to staff today:

    You are already aware that the management of Lufthansa and bmi are jointly assessing strategic options for the future of our company. One of the options being considered by our shareholder is a partial or total sale of bmi.

    As part of a continuous dialogue I want to inform you that we are now in advanced discussions to sell bmi Regional to a UK based investor group previously associated with the regional business. The sale would be in the form of shares of bmi Regional, all assets used in the bmi Regional business including the aircraft fleet, the existing regional route network and the continued employment of the existing staff. It is envisaged that transaction documents will be signed shortly and subject to achieving all regulatory approvals, and after having conducted staff consultations, the target completion date will be before the end of this calendar year.

    The intended buyer plans to continue the airline as an independent entity and will operate from the current head office in Aberdeen and its bases already established in the UK. For an interim period, bmi Regional will continue to fly under its existing brand name and operate under the BD flight code. The currently published winter 2011/2012 schedule will continue as planned and no major network changes are envisaged for summer 2012. The new owner will further develop the regional network in both the UK and Europe.

    Following the proposed sale, customers will continue to benefit from bmi Regional’s convenient schedules, a wide choice of destinations within the UK and Europe and a high level of service. Customers will also be able to book flights via flybmi.com and the bmi call centre for an agreed period of time and tickets already booked will be fully honoured on existing terms.
    We will fully cooperate with the intended buyer and give them our full support including commercial co-operation. It is intended that support functions such as IT and sales will be provided by bmi on a commercial basis to bmi Regional during the transitional period.

    We have today commenced the initial consultation meetings with the recognised Trade Unions of bmi Regional along with management, employee and engineering representatives. It is our intention to provide regular updates to all employees throughout the consultation process. The intended buyer has also indicated that it is keen to consult with staff and this process will start shortly to enable the transaction to complete as soon as possible. Once the consultation is under way a further announcement will be made.

    bmi Regional will be an independent airline with management dedicated to developing the regional business and employment prospects will be enhanced through a planned growth strategy.

    It is our goal to find sustainable solutions for all parts of the bmi business and we as well as the shareholder continue to assess options for bmi. At this stage it is important to say that all the different options are still being explored and assessed and that no decision has been taken.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    FlyBe?


    Tete_de_cuvee
    Participant

    Good to see Vueling has stepped into the void left by BMIbaby at Cardiff airport.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15485153


    Travellator
    Participant

    Re FlyBe

    Not sure, but would give them access to the LHR slots.

    LHR not so suitable for the LC airlines

    I would imagine this would eventually lead to the demise of the rest of the UK BMi routes eg BHD/LHR


    Hippocampus
    Participant

    This BBC article suggests it is a group of Scottish based investors:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-15453062


    Bucksnet
    Participant

    BMI Regional is not an LCC.

    Would be a good buy for Eastern Airlines though.


    excessbaggage
    Participant

    Wasn’t Flybe in talks to buy Bmi Regional (or maybe it was Bmibaby) a few years ago?


    Travellator
    Participant

    Dont think BMi Regional was referred to as LCC, if it was my post it was a statement re FlyBe


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    Perhaps the remnants of flyglobespan?


    Travellator
    Participant

    This is actually a very complex situation. BMi curently using regional aircraft from MAN and also BHD on weekends. Who owns the LHR slots and where do they fall into the deal.

    This will take a little bit of unravelling before the new jumper is knit from the untangled wool !


    Hippocampus
    Participant

    The investor group conducting the bid is led by Graeme Ross and Ian Woodley, who originally founded the regional airline before it was bought by bmi.


    LeTigre
    Participant

    Check this out:

    http://www.flybmi.com/downloads/bmi/BMIPointToPoint.pdf

    I can’t be bothered to trawl through the entire document (I am not as boring as I may seem) but I am actually seeing loads of LHR slots with Regional, as seen by aircraft type (ER3/4).

    eg. 4 sets to ABZ, 1 set to BHD, 1/2 to EDI, 1/2 to DUB, 1 to TXL, 2/3 to HAJ, 4/5 to MAN. This totals a minimum of 14 daily pairs and maximum of 18 daily pairs.

    How on Earth is Lufthansa going to manage this mess?


    CXDiamond
    Participant

    You will find that services operated in to and out of LHR by BMI regional are operated on behalf of BMI who continue to own the slots. At least the sale should see an end to the use of the ERJs at LHR where I wouldn’t allow anything smaller than an A319.


    theworldtraveller
    Participant

    After this deal is done, i hope there is then a link made with Eastern – flybe needs to have some regional competition

    Who would possibly want to buy BMI baby though with the old 737’s?

    Close baby down, and that would then leave a very lhr based BMI ready for IAG to buy… Deal done by next summer I recon!

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