British Midland Airways

British Midland Airways
IATA code :	BD
ICAO code :	BMA
Call sign :	MIDLAND
Founding:	1938
Operation stopped:	2012
Seat:	Castle Donington , United Kingdom
Turnstile :	London Heathrow
Company form:	Limited
Number of employees:	3.604
Sales:	1,045.9 million GBP (2008)
Passenger volume:	10 million (2008)
Alliance :	none, until April 2012 Star Alliance
Frequent Flyer Program :	bmi Diamond Club
Fleet size:	45
Aims:	National and international
British Midland Airways ceased operations in 2012. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

British Midland Airways Ltd. ( British Midland International or bmi for short ; formerly Derby Airways ) was a British airline based in Castle Donington and based at London Heathrow Airport . It became a subsidiary of the International Airlines Group (IAG) in April 2012 after previously being owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG . The takeover by IAG heralded the end of the company and the integration of bmi into British Airways was initiated. In October 2012, the bmi brand was finally taken off the market and the company largely dissolved.

As a subsidiary, bmi operated a low-cost airline called bmibaby until September 2012 . The regional flight subsidiary bmi regional was sold in May 2012 and continued to operate independently until insolvency in 2019.

history

A British Midland Airways Boeing 707 in 1972.

A Douglas DC-9 from BMA in 1987.

First years and independent development

British Midland Airways was founded in 1938 as a flight school called Air Schools Ltd. founded. During the Second World War , the company trained pilots for the Royal Air Force . After the end of the war, more frequent flights were carried out. The company was renamed Derby Aviation on February 16, 1949 . At that time, the company was based at Burnaston airfield, which was south of the village of Derby in the county of Derbyshire . On March 12, 1959, the company was renamed Derby Airways . In 1964, construction began on East Midlands Airport to replace Burnaston Airport . Before moving to the new airport, the company adopted the name British Midland Airways (BMA) on October 1, 1964 . As of April 1965, East Midlands Airport was the company's home base. In 1978 the then management (Sir Michael Bishop, J. Wolfe and S. Balmforth) obtained the majority of the shares.

In 1970, BM entered the jet age with the introduction of the BAC-111. Even after 1988, the last Vickers Viscount flight , BM continued to operate propeller-driven aircraft as the first buyer of BAe ATP . The last of three machines of the type BAe ATP was taken out of service on March 29, 1997.

In 1992 it was one of the first European airlines to offer vegetarian meals. In 1995 BMA started selling tickets on the Internet .

in 2001 the name was changed to British Midland International (bmi) , which was intended to signal the company's international activities (flights to the USA ). At the same time, the departures from East Midland Airport became cheap routes under the youngest subsidiary called bmibaby . For Wales one was Cardiff connection available. In Germany, were Hamburg Airport , the Hanover airport , the Dresden Airport and Tegel Airport (Berlin) bmi fly, next was an extensive codeshare agreements with Lufthansa on flights between Germany and the United Kingdom and the Swiss for flights between Switzerland and the UK.

With the takeover of the English airline British Mediterranean Airways (BMED) in January 2007, 17 new destinations were added to the 2007 winter flight schedule. The slots of BMED, however, were on the British Airways sold, so the new targets had from 2009 through existing slots bmi are handled. British Airways was a codeshare partner on all former BMED routes.

Takeover by Lufthansa

In October 2008 Lufthansa increased its stake to 80% of the shares. The remaining twenty percent belonged to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS). As of June 2007, SAS announced several times that it wanted to sell its 20% stake in the company and that it was in talks with Lufthansa about this. On November 1, 2009 Lufthansa took over the remaining 20% ​​of SAS.

In April 2010 it was announced that bmi would in future appear again under the British Midland International brand . In December 2010, a corresponding new branding, which among other things includes a new logo, was presented.

Takeover by IAG

On September 1, 2011 it was announced that Deutsche Lufthansa AG intends to resell British Midland. After speculation had already existed, it was announced on November 4, 2011 that the International Airlines Group ( IAG for short ), the parent company of British Airways , and Lufthansa had agreed that IAG would take over bmi at the beginning of 2012. In December 2011, however, official negotiations with Virgin Atlantic were also confirmed. This offered less money than IAG, but there would be fewer problems with a possible monopoly position due to the slot allocation at London Heathrow Airport. On December 22, 2011 Lufthansa finally announced that British Midland Airways would be sold to the International Airlines Group for 207 million euros. Virgin Atlantic announced a complaint to the antitrust authorities, which is why a final decision to sell should be made by the end of March 2012. If the takeover failed, Lufthansa would consider closing the loss-making bmi. The EU finally approved the acquisition on March 30, 2012. The takeover was formally completed on April 20, 2012, on the same date bmi left the Star Alliance (the new owner British Airways is a member of the competing alliance oneworld ). At the same time, the collaboration with Miles & More was also ended. Virgin Atlantic meanwhile wants to take legal action against the sale, as it sees a threat to competition in the UK domestic air traffic. The bmi route network will be gradually closed by October 2012, some routes will be discontinued, while others will be continued by British Airways.

In May 2012, the sale of the subsidiary bmi regional to Sector Aviation Holdings Limited was announced. The second daughter, bmibaby , ceased operations in September 2012 due to a lack of buyers.

On October 27, 2012, bmi carried out the last flight.

aims

bmi primarily focused on links between the UK and Western Europe and the Middle East, as well as some destinations in Africa , including Addis Ababa . In the German-speaking area, there were flights to Basel , Berlin , Frankfurt am Main , Hanover , Hamburg , Zurich and Vienna . As part of the takeover by British Airways, however, all routes were successively transferred to it by autumn 2012.

fleet

Fleet at the end of operations

Airbus A330-200 of bmi, 2007

As of July 2012, the British Midland Airways fleet consisted of 27 aircraft with an average age of 9.5 years ( including the regional bmi fleet ):

• 11 Airbus A319-100 (1 operated for British Airways )
• 07 Airbus A320-200 (2 operated for Lufthansa )
• 07 Airbus A321-200
• 02 Airbus A330-200 (1 operated by Meridiana Fly )

In addition, the subsidiary bmi regional had some smaller Embraer ERJ 135 and ERJ 145 aircraft that are used for less frequented connections. In the past, aircraft of the type Boeing 737 and Douglas DC-9 , as well as Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 were used, but these were gradually replaced by Airbus aircraft.

Previously deployed aircraft

In the course of its existence, British Midland operated - also under its previous name - and its subsidiaries u. a. the following aircraft types:

Handley Page Herald of the BMA, 1966

Vickers Viscount of the BMA, 1982 (ex Lufthansa D-ANAC)

• Airbus A319 (until cessation of operation)
• Airbus A320 (until cessation of operations)
• Airbus A321 (until cessation of operation)
• Airbus A330 (until cessation of operations)
• BAC 1-11
• BAe ATP (1988-1997)
• BAe 146
• Boeing 707
• Boeing 737
• Canadair Argonaut
• De Havilland Canada DHC-7
• Douglas DC-3 / C-47
• Douglas DC-4
• Douglas DC-9 (1978-1995)
• Embraer ERJ-135
• Embraer ERJ-145 (1999 to 2001)
• Fokker F-27
• Fokker 70 (1995 to 2002)
• Fokker 100 (1994 to 2005)
• Handley Page Herald (from 1964)
• Short 330
• Short 360
• Vickers Viscount (until 1988)

Incidents

Canadair Argonaut G-ALHG of the BMA, crashed June 4, 1967

Under its six different names, the company recorded seven total aircraft loss incidents in its history, including four with a total of 156 fatalities. Extracts:

• On June 4, 1967, the Stockport plane crash occurred , in which the Canadair C-4 Argonaut ( aircraft registration G-ALHG ) crashed on approach to Manchester Airport in the city of Stockport . Of the 84 inmates, 72 were killed. The aircraft came with 79 passengers on board from Palma de Mallorca Airport when both right-hand engines failed in quick succession during the first attempt at approach. The pilots took off, but lost control of the machine during the second approach attempt due to the asymmetrical thrust and the ever decreasing airspeed, which crashed into an inhabited area about 10 km from the runway. Either failure of tank valves or incorrect operation of the same were given as the causes of the accident, favored by the poor design of the control switches.

• On January 8, 1989, a Boeing 737-400 of the BMA (G-OBME) on the flight from London Heathrow to Belfast suffered engine damage and as a result crashed shortly before East Midlands Airport because the wrong engine had been switched off . A total of 47 people were killed, 79 were rescued from the wreck of the machine, including both pilots. The cause was on the one hand the incorrect construction of the turbine blades of the new engines and the poor training and misjudgment of the pilots (see also British Midland flight 092 ) .

Controversy

Donington Hall , seat of the bmi in Castle Donnington

BMI was criticized for enforcing laws of an Arab state that are directed against freedom of religion as a European airline. A flight attendant was forbidden to take her Bible with her on flights to Saudi Arabia. The stewardess protested against the prohibition, which was tantamount to discrimination. A BMI spokesman defended the decision. The airline only complies with Saudi Arabian laws. The authorities of the strictly Islamic country confiscated Bibles and would not give them back upon departure. The stewardess had been offered a different route.

On April 24, 2009, the British Sunday Times reported that bmi gave another stewardess notice without notice because she did not want to wear an Arab robe, the abaya , when she was on long-haul flights to Saudi Arabia .

A few days later it became known that the airline did not display the State of Israel on the electronic route maps on the flights between London and Tel Aviv. Instead, the maps showed the direction and distance to Mecca. A spokesman for the airline assured that it was a mistake. The planes were bought from another airline and the card should have been deactivated.

See also

• bmi regional
• bmibaby
• Former Airlines List (Europe)

Web links

Commons : bmi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• British Airways notice page regarding bmi ( memento from March 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Important facts. Archived from the original on September 1, 2012 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
2. ↑ The fleet. Archived from the original on June 15, 2012 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
3. ^ Saarländischer Rundfunk: Off for Munich flights: BMI stops flight operations. February 18, 2019, accessed February 18, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} iairgroup.com - BMI REGIONAL SALE (English) May 10, 2012
5. ^ Aero, edition 201, year 1987
6. ↑ Lufthansa takes over British regional airlines completely ( Memento from October 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) , Financial Times Deutschland, October 1, 2009
7. ↑ marketingmagazine.co.uk - Bmi to re-introduce British Midland branding April 14, 2010 (English)
8. ↑ airliners.de: Bmi with a new brand identity December 21, 2010
9. ↑ aero.de - Lufthansa wants to sell British subsidiary bmi September 1, 2011
10. ↑ reuters.com - IAG seen as frontrunner as bmi deal nears-sources (English) November 1, 2011
11. ↑ aero.de - Lufthansa sells subsidiary BMI to IAG / British Airways November 4, 2011
12. ↑ Reuters Germany, Lufthansa gets rid of loss-making BMI
13. ↑ aero.de - Lufthansa officially negotiates with Virgin Atlantic December 12, 2011
14. ↑ de.reuters.com - Lufthansa says goodbye December 22nd, 2011 with BMI sale Great Britain
15. ↑ airliners.de - Lufthansa threatens to close the BMI on March 20, 2012
16. ↑ aero.de - EU approves takeover of Lufthansa subsidiary BMI by IAG March 30, 2012
17. ↑ staralliance.com - BMI FORMALLY LEAVES STAR ALLIANCE ( Memento from October 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English) April 20, 2012
18. ↑ miles-and-more.com - Miles & More ends its cooperation with bmi (English) April 11, 2012
19. ↑ airliners.de - BMI sale: Virgin wants to sue April 16, 2012
20. ↑ businesstraveller.com - BA confirms fully-flat seating on Bmi A321s (English) July 18, 2012
21. ↑ bmibaby.com - Important information about bmibaby flights (English) May 3, 2012
22. ↑ ch-aviation.ch - bmi british midland ( memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed on June 18, 2012
23. ↑ airfleets.net - Fleet age Bmi (English) accessed on June 18, 2012
24. ^ Klee, Ulrich & Bucher, Frank et al .: jp airline-fleets international. Zurich Airport 1966 to 2007; from 2008: Sutton, UK
25. ↑ Accident statistics Derby Airways , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 3, 2018.
26. ↑ Accident Statistics British Midland Airways - BMA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 3, 2018.
27. ↑ Accident report Canadair C-4 G-ALHG , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 4, 2015
28. ^ Accident report B-737-400 G-OBME , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 4, 2015
29. ↑ Vatican Radio : Great Britain: Airline bans Bible transport ( Memento of October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) from January 1, 2007
30. ↑ timesonline.co.uk
31. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from December 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )