[Anonymous]

[viking01]

It will happen in December 2008, if not before.

Why?

It already owns 30% of bmi and has the option of buying a majority stake in December 2008

BMI has 11 per cent of the slots at Heathrow, so if LH buys bmi, it instantly becomes the second largest carrier out of LHR.

It intends to use JetBlue as its feeder partner in New York by linking booking systems and ffp after buying 19 per cent at the end of 2007 (FT story on this http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0885f94e-f0a1-11dc-ba7c-0000779fd2ac.html)

In the same piece it repeated LH’s desire to challenge BA on the London-US routings.

One of the most profitable routes in the world is London to New York, but the Star Alliance doesn’t have a carrier on the route (not since United dropped it). There are many (over a dozen, SIA, Thai, United, Austrian, Swiss, SAS, LOT, TAP, Air China, ANZ, SAA, ANA and TK. Maybe also US Air for the future) Star carriers at LHR and I am sure they would love to get their hands on additional slots should LH’s deal go through.

LH has lots of cash, and consolidation is in the air.

It doesn’t need to keep the name BMI – Lufthansa is a better known brand. It drops the flights it doesn’t want, or already serves from Munich or Frankfurt, and it goes head to head with BA and Virgin, as well as the American carriers.

[yahoo1000]

I hope lufthansa or ba takes bmi over. bmi . . . . . . the worst airline to

work for. They have a very bad reputation to work for. So for the staff, I

hope it gets taken over.

[JeffD]

Oh dear, I really hope the brand bmi is not lost. I travel regularly with this airline and have nothing but praise for the service and its staff. On the otherhand I avoid Lufthansa whenever possible, the cabin crews are unfriendly and the service is unpredictable.

[Why_use_a_silly_name?]

What does BMI represent? They used to be a good full service airline, but then they went all Ryanair at Heathrow whilst atempting to provide a full-service product to more distant locations. Too confusing for me.

And as to their baggage handling; they taught BA all they know and are putting into paratice at T5. Fly in to T1 from AMS or similar and you will spend longer waiting at the carousel then you do in the air. To add injury to insult, BD refuse to interline, even with other Star Alliance carriers, or even to check bags through Heathrow for their own connecting flights.

It’s all too much for me; I used to be Diamond Club Gold (I still have over 800k BMI miles to burn) but now I’m down to Blue plus, and will probably fall all the way down on next renewal.

Moral; the sooner that BMI is taken over by an airline with a coherent vision (BA and Lufthansa are obvious candidates) the better.

[viking01]

That’s true, but the coherent vision might be to get hold of the landing slots and use them for Lufthansa flights, and drop a lot of the flights that bmi currently serves to the Middle East, so for flyers using those routes, it might not be such an improvement

[Tumiactually]

Saw the statement by Luftie’s CFO on this at the weekend along the lines of being determined to exercise the call option to buy bmi this December, so maybe this one is right.

bmi has 11 per cent of the slots at Heathrow, so BA and Virgin would buy it as well, but only if they got the chance. Bishop is by far the cleverest guy in the room, I think, sp perhaps he could sell to someone else. On the bmi website he is quoted as

“The shareholder options between myself and Lufthansa have been widely reported some with more accuracy than others. None of the accounts accurately reflect all of the essential details of that private agreement between shareholders” (that was from the bmi website.”

which could mean anything.

Imagine Lufthansa with 11 per cent of the slots out of Heathrow. Its first quarter profits (while others are going out of business) were €188million.

That would make the sale of BA to Emirates a foregone conclusion (and also, another topic post, I suppose)

[AussieM]

IF BMI do get bought out, those with BMI DC Miles, had better find a way to spend them quickly!!!

BMI tends to be pretty generous with its program & ability to spend miles with a part cash.
(Having recently bought part cash miles 1st class Thai LHR-BKK-AUK, for approx £500 incl all taxes, for a £7,000 seat, it was worth it).

I doubt if LH will hnour these possibilities, also DC have a small amount of members compared to LH so the allocation of seats will be more competative to get hold of.

I have moved over to Etihad for LH having had a BMI Gold card, & retain my KLM/AF Gold for other flights.

The wise will spend or allocate their BMI awards well in time…?

[aaronson]

I am ccrew for bmi and appreciate the comment. It would be great for us if LH buy us because these days consolidation and sound support is essential.

[achad1923]

As a bmi employee I can only say that bmi longhaul has only ever been good to work for, better pay than all the so called big airlines and small enough so that the management know the staffs name.

[viking01]

Just going back to this one – and the reason for Lufthansa making the investment in Jetblue – this story from the FT website

Lufthansa seeks JetBlue code-share
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ef84056-9581-11de-90e0-00144feabdc0.html

seems like sometime this week the application will be filed, allowing Lufthansa to “broaden its footprint at John F Kennedy International Airport, a key US gateway to the world”, (Lufthansa acquired a 19 per cent stake in JetBlue last year for $300m).

“JetBlue possesses a large trove of take-off and landing slots at JFK – one of the world’s top international airports in the largest US city. Last year, the carrier opened a new, state-of-the-art terminal at JFK capable of handling as many as 250 flights a day.”

“We’re looking to capitalise on our position at JFK, where we’re the largest domestic airline,” JetBlue said.

[Author]

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