BMI Regional collapses

[scianoir 610]

Another sad day for British aviation with the collapse of BMI Regional Airlines today. This airline was all that was left of the once thriving British Midland Airlines, based at East Midlands Airport, with a history dating back to 1938 when it was founded as Derby Airways. The company said that it had been “ badly affected by rises in fuel and carbon costs and uncertainty over Brexit”. It operates a fleet of around 17 ERJs with some of the aircraft being operated under contract on Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines routes to Bristol.

Bill

[vc10man 732]

1 hour ago, scianoir said:

Another sad day for British aviation with the collapse of BMI Regional Airlines today. This airline was all that was left of the once thriving British Midland Airlines, based at East Midlands Airport, with a history dating back to 1938 when it was founded as Derby Airways. The company said that it had been “ badly affected by rises in fuel and carbon costs and uncertainty over Brexit”. It operates a fleet of around 17 ERJs with some of the aircraft being operated under contract on Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines routes to Bristol.

Bill

Bill, did they not get acquired by that Irish head of BA under the BA wing? Were they still running an independent outfit under BMI Regional? Sad day in British aviation, as you say. I have flown them many a time EGCC-EGLL.

[scianoir 610]

7 minutes ago, vc10man said:

Bill, did they not get acquired by that Irish head of BA under the BA wing? Were they still running an independent outfit under BMI Regional? Sad day in British aviation, as you say. I have flown them many a time EGCC-EGLL.

I think BMA were initially acquired by the Lufthansa group but they didn't fit into their strategic plan and were then bought by IAG who incorporated most of their operations into BA. IAG however didn't wish to retain the Regional division which they then sold off to another company. I had never flown on BMA as such although I am old enough to remember seeing their Canadair Argonauts on the ramp at EIDW! I have used BMI Baby on flights from EGFF to a few of their destinations and they were quite a nice low cost carrier and also a BMI Regional ERJ from EGGD on a LH flight to FRA once. Always particularly sad to see an airline with a history disappear.

Bill

[vc10man 732]

29 minutes ago, scianoir said:

Always particularly sad to see an airline with a history disappear.

So, true. I remember when I was in the RAF, doing my training at RAF St Athan(today's BA 747 Engineering Base) when I used to see the red-liveried Cambrian Airways Viscounts. I have lost count of the demise of British airlines. Eagle Airways with their Britannia; Court Line with their for those days lovely themed colours, L-1011s; BUA VC-10s; Caledonian, Laker, ......................before I cry in my beer I'd better stop😢

[F737MAX 5,531]

The sad day was back in 2012 when bmi mainline was subsumed by BA.

Lufthansa's strategic plan was to invest in the hope of turning bmi around and using them as a bit of payback against BA for the Deutsche BA operation. If it worked they could use a call option to get bmi cheaply.
Similarly, there was a put option which obliged Lufthansa to buy out bmi for a minimum price that would be above market value, which is what happened as bmi kept making losses.
Ultimately Lufthansa benefited from gaining about 50% of the LHR slots bmi held at the time, using them as feed to their FRA and MUC hubs for long haul.

bmi was a shadow of its former glory days, running odd routes, with expensive and ill-suited aircraft with which to run regional ops.

Aer Arann and CityJet were, and flybe is about to be, run under a much larger brand in order to keep operating. bmi joins VLM, Blue1, Air Alpes, Cimber Air, etc. as having hit the wall. Brexit has played a part in this, but the European regional aviation sector is in poor shape.

Edited February 16, 2019 by F737NG

[scianoir 610]

I can remember the Cambrian Viscounts before they acquired the red livery Rick and even have a vague recollection of seeing Cambrian DC-3s in the Isle of Man when on holidays there as a kid. There was a complete red-liveried Cambrian Viscount preserved at the Wales Aircraft Museum at EGFF and I was surprised how compact and cluttered the flight deck was. Court Line brings back very happy (if somewhat cramped!) memories from my student days with exceptionally cheap student flights on their bright pastel coloured 1-11s to various European student hangouts! There were a lot of lovely colour schemes around then and also a huge variety of types which I miss. Am still hoping for a good Britannia, Vanguard or Ambassador to be developed for us simmers - no harm in hoping I guess!

Bill

[vc10man 732]

1 hour ago, scianoir said:

Am still hoping for a good Britannia, Vanguard or Ambassador to be developed for us simmers - no harm in hoping I guess!

Add me to that list, please?😀