Well it didn’t take long for British Midland International to announce what it was going to do with the slots and aircraft released from the loss making London to Glasgow route.
New routes from London to Stavanger (SVG), Bergen (BGO), Casablanca (CMN) and Marrakech (RAK) have been added to the route map
Daily to Bergen and Stavanger and four-times weekly to Casablanca from 1/4/2011, three-times weekly to Marrakech from 2/4/2011. Surprisingly again the link to Lille hasn’t been restore (old Diamond Club members will know the joke behind that sadly)
Heathrow – Bergen Commences 01/04/2011 (Daily)
BD551 dep 14:05; arr 16:55 Operates Sunday to Friday
BD551 dep 14:25; arr 17:15 Operates Saturday
Bergen – Heathrow Commences 01/04/2011 (Daily)
BD552 dep 17:30; arr 18:20 Operates Sunday to Friday
BD552 dep 17:50; arr 18:40 Operates Saturday
Heathrow – Stavanger Commences 01/04/2011 (Daily)
BD537 dep 08:55; arr 11:50 – Operates Daily
Stavanger – Heathrow Commences 01/04/2011 (Daily)
BD538 dep 12:30; arr 13:25 Operates Sunday to Friday
BD538 dep 13:10; arr 14:05 Operates Saturday (note – long layover)
Heathrow – Casablanca Commences 01/04/2011 (4 x Week)
BD441 dep 10:10; arr 12:25 Operates Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday
BD441 dep 08:35; arr 10:50 Operates Thursday
Casablanca – Heathrow Commences 01/04/2011 (4 x Week)
BD442 dep 13:15; arr 17:25 Operates Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday
BD442 dep 11:40; arr 15:50 Operates Thursday
Heathrow – Marrakech Commences 02/04/2011 (3x Week)
BD447 dep 10:10; arr 12:35 Operates Monday, Friday
BD447 dep 11:10; arr 13:35 Operates Sunday
Marrakech – Heathrow Commences 02/04/2011 (3x Week)
BD448 dep 13:25; arr 17:50 Operates Monday, Friday
BD448 dep 14:25; arr 18:50 Operates Sunday
Lets compare this to their stragety of “Middle East and Oil”. Well Stavanger ticks the Oil part of the strategy as does Bergen.
Casablanca and Marrakech are odd picks. Whilst they meet the middle east part of the strategy (and people who want to redeem miles on these routes need to be take aside as it’s a Zone 1 to Zone 5 redemption for a short hop – 12000 miles vs 20,000 miles for a redemption), once again BMI brings itself head-first into a battle with British Airways who also operate route to Marrakech
To drum up a little interest, there’s also a Double Destination Miles offer going on too to the new routes when flying 01/04/2011 to 31/05/11. This also applies to the recently announced Basel Route as well.
I hate to walk around with a rain-cloud of doom over BMI’s head, but I’d love to see the performance of these routes in 6 months time…
Stavanger isn't SVO, it's SVG. Moscow is SVO
Oops. Shows how awake I was when I posted it. Updated – thanks James.