richardw From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 3709 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 2 months 23 hours ago) and read 5066 times:
BD flights for March 2013 from LHR are currently on sale, but it is highly likely that they won't operate as BD flights, they could be BA or if the airline is liquidated they may not operate at all.
Are they creating a bit of a general administration headache?
richcandy From France, joined Aug 2001, 696 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (1 year 2 months 22 hours ago) and read 4980 times:
Hi
I guess to a point they are. However if they don't have a confirmed date as to when the sale to IAG will be complete then maybe they don't have much choice other than to continue sales as usual.
VV701 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 6631 posts, RR: 17 Reply 2, posted (1 year 2 months 22 hours ago) and read 4975 times:
Quoting richardw (Thread starter): Are they creating a bit of a general administration headache?
What are the alternatives? If only for the sake of the employees it surely has to be "business as usual" until the competition autrhorities and/or Lufthansa Group formally announce BD's future. You cannot simply close down what could still be a going concern either as part of IAG (prior to full integration into BA) or Lufthansa Group or some other buyer.
gdg9 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 478 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (1 year 2 months 14 hours ago) and read 4342 times:
If BA takes over BD, might those old G-MExx series Airbus planes head back to BA? I am not totally familiar on their ownership, I thought they were British Mediterranean dba BA then taken up by BD... ?
1stfl94 From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 1455 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 2 months 13 hours ago) and read 4227 times:
Quoting gdg9 (Reply 6):
If BA takes over BD, might those old G-MExx series Airbus planes head back to BA? I am not totally familiar on their ownership, I thought they were British Mediterranean dba BA then taken up by BD... ?
Technically the the G-MEDx planes were never BA, they wore BA colours but Bmed was a seperate airline on a franchise operation. I would also doubt that the BMI fleet will stay with BA for long, the leases are apparently pretty uncompetitive and BA is already earmarking slots for long haul expansion.
KingFriday013 From United States of America, joined May 2007, 1277 posts, RR: 10 Reply 8, posted (1 year 2 months 5 hours ago) and read 3863 times:
Quoting s4popo (Reply 4): Eh, how many people are actually booking that far ahead? I can only think of MAYBE individuals traveling on miles.
Actually I have to book my grandparents tickets in Europe for very early January... and so far the cheapest itinerary is pointing to a DL one that starts with a BD flight... not sure how that works (I just used ITA to price it out) but I didn't want to book them on BMI anyway since there's so much uncertainty around their future.
Geo772 From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2004, 497 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 2 months 1 hour ago) and read 3108 times:
At the moment BD is still BD and as such will have a timetable in the future in order to sell flights. What happens if and when they are bought by another airline is anyones guess. If they are fully integrated into another carrier then that process will not be instant and will take a reasonable amount of time. Indeed many people will continue to book with BD because they will be unaware of their situation, which is a good thing because if the sale to IAG falls through for whatever reason then BD needs all the forward bookings possible in order to be attractive to any other potential suitor.
Flown on A300B4/600,A319/20/21,A332/3,A343,B727,B732/3/4/7/8,B741/2/4,B752,B762/3,B772/3,DC10,L1011-200,VC10,MD80,1-11
tonystan From Ireland, joined Jan 2006, 1177 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (1 year 2 months ago) and read 2927 times:
Well apparently once approval is granted (of course IF approval is granted) IAG have stated that a merger into BA will be very swift. It could still take up to 9 months to have BMI removed from existance however I imagine it would only take a few months to absorb the schedules and aircraft into the network and have all the retained staff trained to BA SOPs. BA I suppose would simply end the BD routes and schedules it wishes not to keep and send the aircraft elsewhere, ground the aircraft it does not wish to keep and shut down the departments it no longer requires. On top of that I suppose they will have a massive sell off of property!
gdg9 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 478 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 2470 times:
Quoting 1stfl94 (Reply 7): Technically the the G-MEDx planes were never BA, they wore BA colours but Bmed was a seperate airline on a franchise operation. I would also doubt that the BMI fleet will stay with BA for long, the leases are apparently pretty uncompetitive and BA is already earmarking slots for long haul expansion.
Perhaps BA could appeal to the lessor to lower the rates... or maybe that only happens in the US under bankruptcy protection!
richcandy From France, joined Aug 2001, 696 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 2356 times:
Quoting s4popo (Reply 4): Eh, how many people are actually booking that far ahead? I can only think of MAYBE individuals traveling on miles.
Not many passengers just travelling within Europe will book that far ahead. However Easter in 2013 is just at the end of March so there will be a lot of people travelling around that time and looking to book as soon as they can. (Think families with kids of school age)
Also passengers use BD to get to LHR from airports like BHD and MAN etc when connecting onward to long haul destinations. BD used to have a fairly big market in selling UK domestic add-on fares to airlines like NZ/TG/UA/VS/SQ and many more. Planning a long-haul trip 10 or 11 months in advance is not that unheard of in the UK.
abrown532 From UK - Northern Ireland, joined Feb 2008, 127 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2261 times:
What I am most looking forward to out of this whole thing is the possibility of BA taking over the LHR-BHD route using similar BA equipment (A319/320). This would be excellent for BA as the connections through LHR from BHD would prove to be very popular, also because every time I am on the BMI service (every month) it is usually full, with most of those being business and connecting passengers transiting through LHR.
tonystan From Ireland, joined Jan 2006, 1177 posts, RR: 2 Reply 15, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day ago) and read 1987 times:
Quoting abrown532 (Reply 14): What I am most looking forward to out of this whole thing is the possibility of BA taking over the LHR-BHD route using similar BA equipment (A319/320). This would be excellent for BA as the connections through LHR from BHD would prove to be very popular, also because every time I am on the BMI service (every month) it is usually full, with most of those being business and connecting passengers transiting through LHR.
Im pretty sure I heard already that BA does indeed intend to maintain the BHD service. I also read today that EI are eyeing more LHR slots freed up by the merger to expand its own LHR services so you never know, you could see extra BFS services to LHR too!
raffik From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2006, 1646 posts, RR: 4 Reply 18, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 1607 times:
Quoting SR4ever (Reply 16):
I intend to fly BRU-LHR-AMM with SN+BD between Xmas and NYE this year, any chance BD will still operate this route?
I regularly fly LHR-BEY-LHR with BD and I would be disappointed if IAG/BA discontinued the route.
I was told by the flight attendants on my flight that BEY generates a lot of revenue for the airline so I hope that it will be kept. Most likely not with an A321 though because I thought all of BA's A321s were configured for short haul
brightcedars From Belgium, joined Nov 2004, 1276 posts, RR: 2 Reply 19, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 1552 times:
Quoting raffik (Reply 18): I regularly fly LHR-BEY-LHR with BD
BA used to fly the route with wide-bodies and 757's before they transferred it to BMED and the route only went to BD when they took over BMED. I'd asume BA will be flying to BEY after all this, if they get the green light they need.
As for AMM, surely with BA and RJ being in oneworld, the route should remain, but you may be rerouted. However what happens if BD doesn't go to BA is another story.
I would have loved to see BD in bed with VS. Best option for the consumer really, aside from having all 3 alive.
raffik From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2006, 1646 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 1532 times:
Yes, I remember when BA offered service to Beirut- did this end in 1996/7? They used 767s and 757s although I never flew with them. The flight attendants who I was speaking with said they wouldn't be surprised if the flight with BA would operate with a 777 due to demand, but I wonder if they would send the 767 as it operates to Larnaca and Istanbul.
Coincidentally, I just took a look at fares to Beirut in March next year and the cheapest return fare I could find is £487 - more than double than Amman which is further away. We need lower fares to Beirut!
tonystan From Ireland, joined Jan 2006, 1177 posts, RR: 2 Reply 22, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 1461 times:
Quoting raffik (Reply 20): The flight attendants who I was speaking with said they wouldn't be surprised if the flight with BA would operate with a 777 due to demand, but I wonder if they would send the 767 as it operates to Larnaca and Istanbul.
Tough call. To be honest the BA fleet as it stands is pretty stretched and the only flights from BMI that will be maintained are ones that can pay their way. I do however suspect that BEY and AMM will be definate keepers and I am pretty sure they will be proper longhaul products as their flight times are very similar to the likes of TLV and CAI which are operated with a mix of 747-777 & 767 equipment.
Of course we will all have to see what BAs intention is with the BMED aircraft that have long haul products (though inferior to the BA products) as it is very possible BA may decide to keep a few in a longhaul configuration and get MF crew to operate them on longer sectors.
Personally I would love to see BEY come to the 767. Was always my favourite nightstop with QR!
bwaflyer From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 675 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1343 times:
Quoting raffik (Reply 20): Coincidentally, I just took a look at fares to Beirut in March next year and the cheapest return fare I could find is £487 - more than double than Amman which is further away. We need lower fares to Beirut!
Fares on AMM in economy tumbled when easyJet started flying the route.
santos From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2007, 705 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1320 times:
Some of you might find it odd, but i'm actually booked on BD LHR-BEY-LHR in September 2012(i'm sure a lot will happen by then) and I actually enjoy BD A321 with individual AVOD/PVT. I Flew BD to CAI A321 a few months ago. But i'm sure if BA takes over that route i'm happy with a B767/B777, or might get transferred to MEA A330
25 raffik: BD's A321 with the new refurb are comfy, in business and economy . Who knows what will happen next year. I'm thinking that if BA took over the Beirut
26 SR4ever: Well, I will need these flights to recover my SEN/Star Gold status...
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