Bmibaby: Difference between revisions
| Line 52: | Line 52: | ||
*[[Cardiff]] (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdansk [9 February], Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Murcia, Palma, Warsaw [10 February]) |
*[[Cardiff]] (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdansk [9 February], Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Murcia, Palma, Warsaw [10 February]) |
||
*[[East Midlands]] (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdansk [9 February], Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Nice [1 April], Palma, Paris (CDG), Prague, Warsaw [10 February]) |
*[[East Midlands]] (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdansk [9 February], Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Nice [1 April], Palma, Paris (CDG), Prague, Warsaw [10 February]) |
||
*[[Glasgow]] (Ireland West Knock [12 February]) |
|||
*[[Manchester]] (Alicante, Belfast, Bordeaux, Cork, Geneva, Ireland West Knock, Jersey, Malaga, Newquay, Palma, Perpignan, Prague) |
*[[Manchester]] (Alicante, Belfast, Bordeaux, Cork, Geneva, Ireland West Knock, Jersey, Malaga, Newquay, Palma, Perpignan, Prague) |
||
Revision as of 15:02, 23 December 2007
| File:WWB.png | |||||||
| |||||||
| Founded | 2002 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Manchester Airport East Midlands Airport Birmingham International Airport Cardiff International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | Glasgow Airport Edinburgh Airport Belfast International Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | bmi Diamond Club | ||||||
| Fleet size | 23 | ||||||
| Destinations | 24 | ||||||
| Parent company | British Midland PLC | ||||||
| Headquarters | Castle Donington, England, United Kingdom | ||||||
| Key people | Nigel Tuner (CEO), Sir Michael Bishop CBE (Chairman), Crawford Rix (Managing Director), David Hodge (Commercial Director), Tim Berry (Operations Director), Lee Gainsbury (Head of Ground Services) | ||||||
| Website | http://www.bmibaby.com | ||||||
bmibaby is a British low-cost airline and a subsidiary of British Midland PLC. It flies to destinations in Europe from its main bases at East Midlands, Manchester, Cardiff, and Birmingham. bmibaby is a member of the bmi Diamond Club, however it is not a member of the Star Alliance so other Star Alliance airlines' passengers cannot earn points on bmibaby flights.
bmibaby Ltd holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, and is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.[1]
History
The airline was established on 24 January 2002 [2] and started operations on 22 March 2002 with a flight between East Midlands and Málaga.
bmibaby is able to differentiate itself in the marketplace through advertising, low fares, customer service and its website. The site allows passengers to make or change their booking online, view previous bookings and to allocate their seats before checking in, albeit at an extra charge.
In late autumn 2006, the airline announced a significant expansion programme at Birmingham International Airport increasing the number of Boeing 737 aircraft based at the airport from 5 to 8 and the introduction of 8 new routes. In February 2007, the airline announced further growth plans at Birmingham International airport with an additional Boeing 737 aircraft based at the airport, taking the total to 9 and the total amount of routes served to 21, making it the airline's biggest base.
On 1 March 2007, the airline announced an initiative for business travellers with an 'only choose what you need' approach. Business travellers using the airline now had the option to choose from a range of services such as ticket flexibility, executive lounge access and on-line check in, and only pay for the services they used. The company also announced that bmi's frequent flyers could now gain Diamond Club miles, however, other Star Alliance airlines' frequent flyers cannot.[3]
Unlike its sister airline, bmibaby are unable to add the points at the airport, this has to be done at time of booking.
Destinations
bmibaby serves these destinations as of June 2007:
Domestic services -
Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow International, Jersey, Manchester
International services -
Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Cork, Faro, Ibiza, Gdańsk, Geneva, Knock, Kraków, Lisbon, Malaga, Marseille, Milan, Murcia, Nice, Palma, Paris CDG, Perpignan, Prague, Rome, Madrid, Warsaw
- Birmingham (Aberdeen, Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Bordeaux, Cork, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Ireland West Knock, Jersey, Kraków [12 February], Lisbon, Madrid, Malaga, Marseille/Provence, Milan-Bergamo [1 April], Murcia, Nice, Palma, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino)
- Cardiff (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdansk [9 February], Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Murcia, Palma, Warsaw [10 February])
- East Midlands (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdansk [9 February], Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Nice [1 April], Palma, Paris (CDG), Prague, Warsaw [10 February])
- Manchester (Alicante, Belfast, Bordeaux, Cork, Geneva, Ireland West Knock, Jersey, Malaga, Newquay, Palma, Perpignan, Prague)
Until Autumn 2006, bmibaby operated routes from Durham Tees Valley Airport. Following the company's termination of these routes, some have been taken over by Flyglobespan.
Fleet
The bmibaby fleet consists of the following aircraft at November 2007[4] :
| Aircraft | # | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-300 | 18 | 148[5] |
| Boeing 737-500 | 5 | 131 |
The Summer 2007 schedules required 20 aircraft in daily use, the other two being spare for maintenance etc. The aircraft are based at Birmingham (9), East Midlands (5), Manchester (4) and Cardiff (3). A previous small base at Durham Tess Valley airport is no longer used.
The bmibaby fleet average age is 12.9 years.[6] Aircraft are named with 'baby' in the title, such as rock a bye baby and baby blue skies. On 25 August 2006 BMI Baby was confirmed as the sponsor of the Elite Ice Hockey League in the UK. One plane is now named ice ice baby. [7] To celebrate bmibaby's second base opening, at Cardiff International Airport in 2003, a competition held in local schools resulted in one Cardiff-Based aircraft as "Baby Dragon Fly"
BmiBaby will be taking delivery of two Boeing 737-300s from International Lease Finance Corporation.
Sponsorship
bmibaby sponsors:
- Weather broadcasts on ITV1 Wales
- Cardiff's Winter Wonderland
- Cardiff Blues RFC.
- Elite Ice Hockey League in the UK.
- Catalan Dragons Rugby League Club
