[justloveflying]

Dear Forum Members.

Once a titan at London Heathrow and then a nostalgic memory.

But what are the chances ofBM making it back to UK and European skies in the future ? I would presume they would have one aircraft type and maybe not be London Heathrow Based but maybe Glasgow,Birmingham and Manchester focussed ?

I would love to hear what you all think as it cannto be that such a big time player has gone forever.

I raise thsi topic due to a very interesting chat this weekend with some big boys at Heathrow !

[Wormsnake]

While BMI may not return to its former glory at London Heathrow, there’s certainly room for it to reestablish itself with a focused approach, perhaps centered around airports like Glasgow, Birmingham, and Manchester.

1 user thanked author for this post.

justloveflying

[Rferguson2]

@ wormsnake. BMI did reappear after the ‘original’ BMI brand disappeared and focused on regional flying. The original BMI had a regional branch named ‘BMI Regional’. When BMI was integrated into BA, BA did not take on bmi regional and instead some private investors took the airline on. It continued flying as bmi regional for some years operating just under 20 embraer jets around the UK and europe with a focus on Aberdeen, Bristol and Birmingham.

It went into administration early 2019 and Loganair and Flybe took on most of the routes.

Given that Flybe went in the same direction as Bmi Regional (which actually rebranded as flybmi not long before it went under) and ceased operations I don’t think I would be pouring any money into a UK regional airline.

1 user thanked author for this post.

justloveflying

[AMcWhirter]

When I wrote a piece re UK domestic aviation some years ago I quoted consultant John Strickland as saying “domestic air service is a challenge.”

Yes big carriers like BA operating to LHR can subsidise their main domestic routes because a) they carry volume traffic and b) BA feeds domestic feed for its international flights.

Regional routes are different.

Flybe 1 tried and failed. Flybe 2 appeared later but it too failed. Flybe operated prop aircraft (unpopular with corporate travellers) and it tried to compete on price with rail operators.

Loganair survives because it operates smaller jets and generally its fares are high.

Of course it would be great to see a new Bmi operate into LHR with its famous Diamond Service but I believe the situation has changed in recent years.

In mainland Europe the national airlines have rail-air deals to their hubs. But at the same time these carriers can be reluctant to surrender *all* their feed traffic to other modes.

Hence in Germany we see Lufthansa (a major exponent of rail-air) still operating many domestic flights to feed its twin hubs … even though some eco-minded politicians have long called for all domestic flights to be banned.

Considering January’s DB strike (which lasted for six days) Lufthansa made the right decision.

1 user thanked author for this post.

justloveflying

[FDOS]

But what are the chances ofBM making it back to UK and European skies in the future?

About as high as my chances of taking Claudia Schiffer out to dinner 😉

6 users thanked author for this post.

Nick Pike, MartynSinclair, DerekVH, AMcWhirter, ASK1945, justloveflying

[justloveflying]

Some excellent and informed viewpoints already going up. A delight to see ! For sure, the new BM would need to be based in BHX/MAN/GLA and maybe offer services to UK domestic cities plus maybe 3 x a day GLA/EDI/MAN/BFS to LHR. It could happen and with the right amoutn of money and direction I think it will ! BringBackBM !

[cwoodward]

Perhaps interestingly Loganair is now controlled by Airline Investments Limited – the same company that also owns the flyBMI brand.

Could they replicate a Loganair type operation under the BMI brand and operate again – more importantly would it work?

Prior to its closure its traffic had greatly diminished however – in 2017 the airline was still carrying around 550,000 paxs p.a. down from its peak of 750K when Lufthansa was a major shareholder.
Clearly there is traffic but is there a workable formula for harnessing it. Seemingly a UK alone operation would not but adding the right short hauls into Europe using small jets it seems possible – but challenging.

[MartynSinclair]

“But what are the chances ofBM making it back to UK and European skies in the future?

About as high as my chances of taking Claudia Schiffer out to dinner 😉”

I will see what i can do FDOS 🙂

3 users thanked author for this post.

FDOS, ASK1945, cwoodward

[FDOS]

Well, Martyn, you are a well connected man about town 🙂

1 user thanked author for this post.

cwoodward

[MartynSinclair]

Well FDOS, I do need to find a VIP guest for our dinner in May. If successful, I may try and arrange a seat on the newly initiated British Midland flight into Heathrow.

Feelers are out for both, hope you wont be too upset if I fail on both… 🙂 – although I am sure the dinner will be delicious and convivial 🙂

1 user thanked author for this post.

FDOS

[Author]

Posts