BMI British Midland

bmi Airbus A320.

bmi Airbus A321 in an old, but still frequently seen, colour scheme.

Embraer ERJ 145 of bmi regional.

bmi, (Airline Code: BD) formerly known as British Midland, is the second largest airline in the United Kingdom. Based at East Midlands Airport, the airline flies to destinations across Europe and North America. bmi holds 14% of all Heathrow take off and landing slots and is part of the Star Alliance grouping of the world's largest airlines.

The airline flies domestic and international routes from UK airports: London Heathrow Airport, London City Airport, Manchester International Airport, Birmingham International Airport, Glasgow International Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Nottingham East Midlands Airport, Belfast City Airport, Inverness Airport, Norwich Airport, Newcastle Airport, Durham Tees Valley Airport, Stornoway Airport, Aberdeen Airport and Leeds-Bradford Airport. Seasonal service to Jersey.

The main international routes are from Heathrow to European destinations in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Belgium.

From Manchester Airport, the airline offers transatlantic flights to Antigua, Bardabos, Chicago, Las Vegas, St. Lucia, Washington, DC.

bmi has fought to gain transatlantic flights from Heathrow. Only British Airways, Air India, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, United Airlines, Kuwait Airways, and Air Canada are permitted to offer such routes.

bmi will launch new service to Mumbai after UK and India reached new bilateral air service agreement, and plans to serve Riyadh in September 2005 after British Airways dropped the service, due to security issues.

In January 1989, the Kegworth Air Disaster killed 47 passengers.

In February 2001, British Midland unveiled its new corporate livery and service revamp, including adding the "bmi" title. However, "British Midland" title was dropped in late 2003.

In 2002, bmi set up a low-cost subsidiary known as bmibaby, using redundant Boeing 737s which were displaced after bmi's fleet renewal programme which favours an all-Airbus fleet. bmibaby flies routes between secondary airports around Europe. More recently bmi has been subject of takeover rumours from Virgin Atlantic.

The airline is a member of Star Alliance since July 2000.

External links

Members of the Star Alliance

Regional Members: Adria Airways | Blue1 | Croatia Airlines

Future Members: South African Airways | Swiss

List of aircraft | Aircraft manufacturers | Aircraft engines | Aircraft engine manufacturers

Categories: Star Alliance | Airlines of the United Kingdom