BMI To Launch Biggest Route Expansion, To Improve Mid-Haul Network

BMI TO LAUNCH BIGGEST ROUTE EXPANSION, TO IMPROVE MID-HAUL NETWORK

AFX UK (Focus)
Published: Sep 04, 2007

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Privately owned airline BMI said it is
launching its biggest-ever route expansion, with 17 new destinations
from London Heathrow and plans for further improvements to its
mid-haul network.

BMI, in which Deutsche Lufthansa AG and SAS AB have stakes of 30
pct minus one share and 20 pct respectively, said routes to Middle
Eastern destinations including Baku in Azerbaijan, Tehran, Beirut,
Amman in Jordan, Almaty in Kazakhstan and Yerevan in Armenia will
start on Oct 28.

The Derbyshire-based airline, in which chairman Sir Michael Bishop
has a majority stake, said it had also identified a number of key
destinations which it wants to serve from Heathrow, including Kiev,
Minsk, Kuwait City, Lahore in Pakistan, Tel Aviv, Dammam in Saudi
Arabia and Sana’a in Yemen, as well as increased flights from Heathrow
to Moscow.

"We will be seeking a number of such opportunities over the coming
months," BMI Group chief executive Nigel Turner said in a statement.

The move marks the completion of the integration into BMI of British
Airways PLC destinations that were run by BMED under a franchise
agreement. BMI bought BMED in February 2007.

The airline said it is also introducing major enhancements to its
in-flight product, including improved food and drinks service on
all its mid-haul and long-haul routes, new amenity kits and kids’
packs and in-flight entertainment.

>From mid-September, BMI will launch new lie-flat beds on services from
Heathrow to Riyadh and to Jeddah, as well as to the Caribbean and to
the United States from Manchester. [email protected] paw/ajb

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS