Bmi is to roster Airbus A319 aircraft onto selected services between London Heathrow and Aberdeen from the start of August, in a move which it says will increase daily seat capacity by 90 per cent.
The carrier currently serves the route six-times daily using Embraer regional jets, but from August 1 it will replace these aircraft with larger Airbus A319s on three peak morning and evening flights (those departing London at 0700, 1745 and 2000, and departing Aberdeen at 0740, 1010 and 2000).
According to sales and marketing director for Bmi Katherine Gershon these flights also feed into connections for the carrier’s routes to Baku and Moscow from Heathrow, as well as American codeshare flights with Star Alliance partner Continental Airlines.
The carrier says that the move will enable it to satisfy “growing corporate and leisure demand”, and will see nearly 3,000 seats being added to the route per week, or a 90 per cent increase in daily seat capacity.
Rivals on the London-Aberdeen route include Easyjet (from Luton using Boeing 737 and Airbus A319 aircraft), BA from Heathrow using A319 and A320s, and Flybe from Gatwick using Embraer aircraft.
For more information visit flybmi.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
The schedule with new aircraft type will be as follows:
London Heathrow - Aberdeen Aberdeen - London Heathrow
07:00 – 08:30 (A319) 07:40 – 09.35 (A319)
10.15 – 11.55 (ER4) 10:10 – 11.50 (A319)
13:00 – 14.45 (ER4) 12:25 – 14.05 (ER4)
15:00 – 16.40 (ER4) 15:20 – 16.55 (ER4)
17:45 – 19.20 (A319) 17:10 – 18.50 (ER4)
20:00 – 21.30 (A319) 20:00 – 21.40 (A319)