British Midland International

London - Heathrow

British Midland Airways Ltd.. ( in the outer appearance British Midland International, or bmi short ) was a British airline based in Castle Donington and based on London Heathrow Airport. It was after she previously was in April 2012, a subsidiary of International Airlines Group (IAG ) in the possession of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. With the takeover by IAG, the end of the carrier was ushered in and introduced an integration of bmi British Airways. In October 2012, the bmi brand was eventually taken off the market and the company largely resolved.

Bmi operate as a subsidiary until September 2012, a low cost airline bmibaby called. The regional airline subsidiary bmi regional was sold in May 2012 and will continue to operate independently.

• 3.1 Historic Fleet

History

Early years and self-development

The company was founded in 1938 as a flight school called Air Schools Ltd. established and expanded its services in the 1950s steadily from. In 1959 she was first called Derby Airways and in 1964 it was renamed British Midland Airways ( BMA). 1978 acquired the former management (Sir Michael Bishop, J. Wolfe and S. Balmforth ) the majority of shares.

The name component Midland in 1964 probably chosen with reference to the East Midlands Airport, where the (initially only regional ) airline had its home airfield. Would be correct, however, Midlands, according to the central region of England.

In 1992, she was one of the first European airlines that had vegetarian meals on offer. 1995 BMA began with the ticket sales via the Internet.

In 2001 it was renamed the British Midland International ( bmi ), which the international activities of the company should be signaled ( flights to the USA ). At the same time departures from East Midland airport to Cheap Price routes among the youngest subsidiary, bmibaby were. For Wales Cardiff a connection is available. In Germany, Hamburg Airport, Hanover Airport, the Dresden Airport and the airport Tegel ( Berlin) were served by bmi, next came an extensive codeshare agreement with Lufthansa for flights between Germany and the United Kingdom and the Swiss for flights between Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The acquisition of the English airline British Mediterranean Airways ( BMED ) in January 2007, 17 new goals have been added to the winter schedule 2007. The Slots of BMED, however, were sold to British Airways, thus the new targets from 2009 through the existing slots from bmi had to be settled. British Airways was on all former BMED routes codeshare partners.

Takeover by Lufthansa

In October 2008, Lufthansa increased its holding to 80 % of the shares. The remaining twenty percent were of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS ). From June 2007, SAS had repeatedly told her 20 - to want to sell % stake in the company and to be in talks about it with Lufthansa. On November 1, 2009, Lufthansa acquired the remaining 20 % of SAS.

In April 2010 it was announced that bmi again in the future is to occur under the brand British Midland International. In December 2010, was also a corresponding new brand identity, which includes a new logo, among others, are presented.

Takeover by IAG

On September 1, 2011, it was announced that the German Lufthansa AG seeks to resell British Midland. After it had already been given by speculation, it was announced on 4 November 2011, that the International Airlines Group ( IAG short ), parent company of British Airways and Lufthansa have agreed that the IAG bmi would take over in early 2012. However, official negotiations with Virgin Atlantic were confirmed in December 2011. While this offered less money than IAG, but there would be fewer problems in terms of a possible monopoly due to the slot allocation at London Heathrow Airport. On 22 December 2011, Lufthansa announced finally that British Midland Airways is sold for 207 million euros to International Airlines Group. However, Virgin Atlantic announced a complaint with antitrust authorities, which is why a final decision to sell should fall until the end of March 2012. In the event of failure of the acquisition, Lufthansa was considering the closure of loss-making bmi. On 30 March 2012, the EU approved the takeover finally. On 20 April 2012, the acquisition was formally completed, the same date left bmi, Star Alliance (the new owner of British Airways is a member of the rival oneworld alliance ). At the same time, cooperation with Miles & More has ended. Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, wants to complain against the sale because she sees a threat to competition in the domestic UK air traffic. The route network bmi is gradually dissolved until October 2012, some routes are set while others are being maintained by British Airways.

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

On October 27, 2012 bmi led by the last flight.

Objectives

Bmi focused primarily on relations between the United Kingdom and Western Europe and the Middle East, some destinations in Africa, including Addis Ababa. In German-speaking Basel, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hanover, Hamburg, Zurich and Vienna are served. As part of the acquisition by British Airways but all routes were to fall 2012 will gradually have to this.

Fleet

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

In addition, the subsidiary bmi regional possessed of some smaller Embraer ERJ 135 and ERJ 145, which are used for less -traffic connections. In the past, Boeing 737 and Douglas DC -9 were, and Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 used, but these were gradually replaced by Airbuses.

Naval History

In the course of its existence, operation, British Midland (and their subsidiaries ), and others following aircraft types:

• Airbus A319
• Airbus A320
• Airbus A321
• Airbus A330
• BAC 1-11
• BAe ATP
• BAe 146
• Boeing 707
• Boeing 737
• Canadair Argonaut
• De Havilland Canada DHC -7
• Douglas DC-3/C-47
• Douglas DC-4
• Douglas DC-9
• Embraer ERJ -135
• Embraer ERJ -145
• Fokker F-27
• Fokker 70
• Fokker 100
• Handley Page Herald
• Short 330
• Short 360
• Vickers Viscount

Incidents

• On 8 January 1989, there came on a Boeing 737-400 of bmi on the flight from London Heathrow to Belfast to an engine damage after 20:05 clock 2 sheets of low pressure fans of the left engine broke and destroyed it. The pilot switched off now because of the strong vibrations erroneously from the right engine. The machine was at this point approximately 15 km from East Midlands Airport, on which they should make an emergency landing. Under full load stabilized, the engine and the vibration disappeared largely. Within sight of the runway, the damaged engine finally exploded. The time to start functioning engine was no longer enough. The machine slid now without any thrust on the runway to, suffered a stall and crashed 20:24 clock 900 m of the runway in an embankment on the edge of the M1 motorway. Overall, in the crash, 47 people were killed and 79 were rescued from the wreckage of the plane. This was caused on the one hand the bad design of the turbine blades of the new engines and the misjudgment of the pilot due to the lack of training for the new 737-400. The captain had only 23 hours of flight on the new type, the co-pilot 53 flying hours. Both had only used a one-day introductory course for the cockpit operation of the new 737-400, but were in the training of two surviving pilots no simulators.

Controversial

BMI was in the criticism, establishing itself as a European airline laws of an Arab State, which are directed against the freedom of religion. Thus, a flight attendant was prohibited to carry on flights to Saudi Arabia their Bible. The flight attendant protested against the ban, which would equate to discrimination. A BMI spokesman defended the decision. The airline fill only the Saudi Arabian laws. The authorities of the strict Islamic country confiscated Bibles and would give them not back when leaving. They had the stewardess use on a different route offered.

On 24 April 2009 reported the British Sunday Times that bmi another stewardess announced without notice because she wanted no Arab robe, abaya wear when they are used on long haul flights to Saudi Arabia.

A few days later it was announced that the airline did not inform the State of Israel on the electronic route maps on the flights between London and Tel Aviv. Instead, the direction and distance of Mecca was displayed on the maps. A spokesman for the airline insisted that it was a question of an error. You have purchased the machines from another airline, and the card should have been actually disabled.