The last day: British Midland International

For those of us who watch the skies, the sight of the White and Blue whale will soon disappear from the sky on bigger birds as British Midland Internationals Operating Certificate expires today.

BMI Airbus A320 at London Heathrow

A short potted history:

The Early Years

• bmi began life in 1938 as Air Schools Ltd, specialising in RAF pilot training
• In 1949, the company became known as Derby Aviation, diversifying operations to include passenger and cargo charter services
• In 1959, the company became known as Derby Airways, changing to British Midland Airways in 1964, when it moved to the newly opened East Midlands Airport in 1965

1970s

• Throughout the 1970s, British Midland Airways further expanded domestic and international passenger services, including longhaul destinations
• The company celebrated a landmark in 1979, when over one million passengers were carried for the first time in a single year

1980s

• bmi’s growth continued during the 1980s and passenger carryings were recorded at 1.8M
• The company established its headquarters at Castle Donington near East Midlands Airport in 1982, and in 1986 the airline changed its name to British Midland
• In 1989, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) purchased a 24.9% stake in the airline at a cost of £25M

1990s

• By the end of the 1990s, British Midland enjoyed passenger carryings of over 6.5M a year
• In 1992, Scandinavian Airlines increased its share to 40%
• In 1993, it became the first European carrier to offer a separate Business Class cabin for business travellers and in 1995, it became the first airline to offer a booking service with payment over the internet
• In 1999, Lufthansa acquired a 20% stake in British Midland from the 40% owned by Scandinavian Airlines

2000s

• British Midland joined Star Alliance on 1 July 2000
• The turn of the century saw an expansion of routes and the beginning of longhaul operations to the USA, India and Saudi Arabia
• The airline’s new global ambition was accompanied by a rebranding to bmi British Midland in 2001, subsequently shortened to bmi two years later
• In 2002, bmibaby, a low-cost subsidiary with its own unique brand, was launched
• Following the acquisition of BMED in 2007, bmi enjoyed rapid expansion to 17 midhaul destinations in the Middle East, Asia and Africa
• The route network was strengthened further with the addition of more midhaul destinations including the launch of services to Russia
• On 1 July 2009, bmi became a member of the Lufthansa group
• In 2012, International Airlines Group (IAG) became the new owner of British Midland Limited and bmi Regional was sold from IAG to Sector Aviation Holdings Ltd (SAH). bmibay was shut down.

bmibaby Boeing 737-300 landing at East Midlands Airport

Of BMI, the only thing that remains is BMI Regional, which is now part of Sector Avation who begin operations on their own from 28th Ocotber (with their own ticket stock – Code 480).  bmibaby’s planes have been sent to storage, pending dispersal to other carriers.  As of BMI Mainline itself, the Blue and White Whale will be painted over (and is in the process of being painted over into British Airways Chatham Dockyard colours, with the A330’s disposed of whilst BA keeps the A319’s, A320’s and A321’s.

BMI A330 taxing at Manchester Airport

Flight BD928 will be the final flight and is operating from Baku. It will arrive at Heathrow (subject to ATC) around 10:30BST, who have operated from the T1 complex for over 30 years. The flght will be greeted with a water-cannon salute as it pulls in for the final time as a BMI service (before becoming a British Airways plane).

And that will end the name British Midland International, British Midland Airways for the time being.

G-MEDF completing the final BMI flight with a water cannon salute – Picture – TCX69 via FlyerTalk

From the 28th October, FlyBMI.com will unavailable, and you’ll need to access www.diamondclub.org to access you miles and get them out of Diamond Club over to British Airways Executive Club. Also note that all earnings have now ended except via the BMI Credit Card.

For all non UK residents (except South Pacific), you’ll need to get your miles transferred to Avois by 31st December. UK residents have more time whilst the BMI Credit Card exisits. South Pacific Members have had their accounts frozen, pending a decision on what to do with them (as the default oneworld membership for that region is Qantas)

And so, another footnote in British Aviation history is added.

So long and thanks for all the cheese toasties.