Bmi plans to launch daily flights from London Heathrow to Doha (Qatar) on March 26. Unusually the independent airline will not be operating the flight itself. Instead, because of a plane shortage, Bmi has contracted the service to Qatar Airways who will be using an Airbus A-330.
Bookings and marketing will be handled by Bmi and the existing Qatar Airways' London-Doha services will be unchanged. But this arrangement does mean the new route remains subject to government approval.
The flight from London is set to depart Heathrow's Terminal 3 at 15.05 to arrive in Doha at 23.55. The inbound service is planned to leave Doha at 07.45 to land in Heathrow at 13.15.
Fares will typically start at £449 for an economy return.
Bmi says its plans to launch a three flights a week service to the Saudi port city of Jeddah on April 23 are on track. The carrier began serving the Saudi capital of Riyadh last year. It also says its popular Heathrow-Mumbai service will increase from four flights a week to daily from April 22.
For more information go to www.flybmi.com
Report by Alex McWhirter