Aberdeen Dyce Airport

After 'engine change in-flight' bmi Regional looks to re-grow partnerships – and profitability

bmi Regional is a familiar name now undertaking a very different strategy after what management terms an “engine change in-flight” when the carrier was sold off from IAG and had to migrate to its own IT systems, new office, IATA code and BSP in a matter of weeks.

During that time the focus was to keep the carrier operational, and with the transition settled down, bmi Regional is now looking to re-establish partnerships, grow its network focused on point-to-point traffic rather than the approximate quarter of traffic it received from Star Alliance, which it is no longer a member of. The carrier is viewing an open future across Europe, not just the UK, where sub-100 seat services are needed. A320 and 737 operations are not its focus, at least for now.

Flybe pulls Gatwick to Aberdeen route, adding spark to the London-Scotland connectivity debate

The relationship between England and Scotland has always been contentious with centuries-long battles for power between the King/Queen of England and heirs to the Scottish throne. While these kind of brutal disputes have ended, the air connectivity debate between London and Scotland remains high on the agenda. Even the European Commission got involved when it requested that British Airways surrender seven daily slot pairs at London Heathrow for explicit use on services to Aberdeen and/or Edinburgh Airport as part of the remedy package to clear the acquisition of bmi by British Airways (BA) parent International Airlines Group (IAG) in Mar-2012. On these routes, IAG was judged to have too large a hold on the market, either by number or proportionally.

London-Edinburgh is the largest UK domestic route by passengers and London-Aberdeen the fourth largest, and both routes are in danger of falling in a duopoly situation following the recent announcement by Flybe that it is withdrawing its London Gatwick-Aberdeen service as of 28-Oct-2012. This will leave easyJet and BA the only operators on the London-Aberdeen market.

bmibaby ceases Cardiff and Manchester operations to expand at Belfast, East Midlands, Birmingham

bmibaby stated it would cease all operations from Cardiff and Manchester Airports at the end of the summer 2011 schedule. As a result, four bmibaby aircraft based at the two airports will be redeployed to Belfast, East Midlands and Birmingham. The airline currently operates 40 weekly services from Manchester and 30 weekly services from Cardiff to European destinations.