As the first day of Farnborough 2012 draws to a close, lets take a look at what has been creating headlines today: Top of the bill goes to Steven Udvar-Hazy's Air Lease who have placed an a firm order for 60 Boeing 737 Max 8 and 15 Boeing 737 Max 9s with "reconfirmation rights" for 25 more. Expect those to be leased to airlines quickly when they arrive... Airbus … [Read more...]
Virgin Atlantic eyes Moscow
It seems that Virgin Atlantic appears to be dusting itself off after the failed BMI takeover bid, with an announcement today that Virgin Atlantic is intending to build a short-haul and medium hub out of it's London Heathrow base. To do this, Virgin Atlantic is going to need the slots that were surrendered by British Airways/IAG. Traffic between London and Moscow is … [Read more...]
BMI Regional sold to Sector Aviation
In what can be described as some good news, BMI Regional has been sold by International Airlines Group to a company called Sector Aviation Holdings. The price: A cool £8 million. The sale is pending CAA approval, but IAG anticipates this will be completed within two weeks. For that cool £8 million, Sector Aviation Holdings will get: All of BMI Regional's fixed … [Read more...]
Talks over BMI Regional continue
In some good news, it seems that talks with Granite Aviation and IAG are in progress over the long term fate of BMI Regional. BMI Regional is the arm of BMI that runs services from some of the UK Regional airports - as well has having a heavy Scottish presence. They operate a fleet of 4 Embraer ERJ-135's and 15 ERJ-145's, focusing on high value traffic, employing 330 … [Read more...]
IAG doubts it can sell BMI Baby or BMI Regional off
Things are not looking rosey for BMI Baby and BMI Regional at the moment. The two subdivisions of BMI were meant to be sold off before the IAG takeover by Lufthansa, but they failed to be sold. IAG is not interested in owning the two units who operate to very different markets - BMI Regional operating high value regional routes, whilst BMI Baby operates the low cost model … [Read more...]
Dates for your diary…
As BMI is taken over by IAG and becomes part of British Airways, here's a list of dates that are important: As of now: Diamond Club members can earn on BA Flights and vice versa. BMI has formally exited from the Star Alliance Diamond Club Members can access BA lounges at LHR and LGW Big upcoming dates 1st May - Diamond Club to BA Executive Club status matching … [Read more...]
The Winners of the BMI Purchase
Earlier today, I looked at the losers of the sale of BMI to IAG. Lets be more congratulative and look at the winners The big winner is of course International Airlines Group and its subsidiary British Airways who have got a total of 42 pairs of slots to play with at London Heathrow. As well as that they get the staff, facilities and aircraft too. Lufthansa although a … [Read more...]
The Losers in the BMI Sale
Whilst Diamond Club members are probably sitting pretty and IAG has a bunch more slots, there are some big losers in the sale of British Midland International: Lufthansa. Oh dearie me. Lufthansa really bit off more than it can chew when it was forced to buy BMI from Sir Michael Bishop (and that's silly of Lufthansa to agree to the push/pull sale agreement in the first … [Read more...]
IAG takeover of BMI complete
Well, it seems Lufthansa has some cash, and International Airlines Group has an airline, with slots at London Heathrow. IAG Has posted a press release stating as much at http://www.iagshares.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=240949&p=irol-rnsArticle_Print&ID=1685377 The plan remains to integrate BMI Mainline out of London into British Airways. However there is a question of … [Read more...]
BMI Sale complete: 1:1 Avios CONFIRMED, BA Lounge Access GRANTED
Well the big news is that the sale of BMI is complete. I'll look into that in a shake, but here's the news from Diamond Club: I’m writing to advise you of some important changes to the Diamond Club programme following the sale of bmi to IAG, the owner of British Airways, on 20 April 2012. As a result, there are some key changes to your Diamond Club membership, which I would … [Read more...]