Dublinspotter From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2011, 108 posts, RR: 0 Posted (8 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 7346 times:
Hi
As we all know on the 9th September 2012 an airline from the UK will shut down . Hundreds of staff will be made jobless and the infamous WW logo will disappear along with the B733's and B735's. There first flight was from East Midlands to Malaga on the 22nd March 2002, and ten years later the very last flight ever of BmiBaby will be from Malaga to East Midlands on the 9th September.
I for one will miss BmiBaby as they used to fly from BFS/BHD to CWL which was convenient for my self and family. Then it was down to a seasonal service and eventually the route was closed. the crew was friendly and the service was unforgettable.
Although it was a loss making airline from the start along with parents BMI, I am amazed they have made it this far, I loved the livery and in the end tried to paint each tail into a special action made by "tiny" (the mascot).
With a small 737 fleet they have covered 40 airports all over the UK and Europe. I always liked there cheap prices and were always helpful.
British Aviation will have lost another member and I do feel for the staff and in this current climate, it will be harder to find employment.
The last fights are .....
WW5967 EMA 1535 ALC 1920 - WW5968 ALC 1955 EMA 2145
WW5329 EMA 1605 AGP 2005 - WW5330 AGP 2045 EMA 2245
WW5911 EMA 1630 VCE 1950 - WW5912 VCE 2035 EMA 2200
WW5429 EMA 1630 PMI 2005 - WW5430 PMI 2040 EMA 2225
(Will any one be flying on one of the last flights?)
WW are another casualty in the long line of the closures of airlines all over the globe during these hard economic times
AIR MALTA From Malta, joined Sep 2001, 2364 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (8 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 7205 times:
Sad to see this airline close. It was my first LCC experience and I used them at that time around 2003 on the GVA-EMA-GVA route. They were nice and the experience far above U2 or FR.
gingersnap From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2010, 854 posts, RR: 5 Reply 2, posted (8 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 6791 times:
It was always going to happen I feel, but I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness about it.
I've often travelled with WW on routes where BE were simply overpriced and expensive. The aircraft were always clean and tidy I found, and the staff were always smiling. Also WW gave me my first all-female crew which is always a plus.
They'll be missed.
Dublinspotter From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2011, 108 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (8 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 6215 times:
HI
They surely will be missed!
Quoting AIR MALTA (Reply 1): Sad to see this airline close. It was my first LCC experience and I used them at that time around 2003 on the GVA-EMA-GVA route. They were nice and the experience far above U2 or FR.
I agree, a lot better than FR definitely, but sure with FR you get a flight and a seat, I loved the wee mascot "Tiny" it will be sad to see another company and airline close.
I have flown BmiBaby countless times but gradually reduced flying them because Ryanair were offering a cheaper and better timings to Bristol. The most recent my plane was called "Tiny life" G-TOYI, a B737-300.
Quoting gingersnap (Reply 2): It was always going to happen I feel, but I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness about it.
I've often travelled with WW on routes where BE were simply overpriced and expensive. The aircraft were always clean and tidy I found, and the staff were always smiling. Also WW gave me my first all-female crew which is always a plus.
They'll be missed.
When we flew them last year I found the cabin clean and tidy, in a way also it felt a little retro, after getting home I found out that particular plane flew for Air Vanuatu in the late nineties, Also last year my flight for a first had a female captain.
Almost as soon as it was announced that BMiBaby would cease operations, other airlines stepped in at EMA creating new jobs. Jet2 have become established there, Monarch are moving in and i expect expansion will follow. Fly-be have also moved in and taken up some routes and again, i am sure they will expand.
In addition to these new airlines moving into EMA and creating new positions, BMiBaby staff have been invited to apply for posts with British Airways.
BmiBaby was my first choice LCC, their staff were simply great. I loved their 733's and i found their website straight forward and a pleasure for its simplicity to use.
I wish all BMiBaby staff good luck for the future, thanks for looking after us over the years, you have all been a credit to your company.
There isnt really a dark side to the moon, as a matter of fact its all dark!
zkojq From New Zealand, joined Sep 2011, 780 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (8 months 2 weeks 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 5876 times:
While this is sad, it is nice to see an airline being shut-down in a controlled manor IE not stranding passengers and leaving employees unpaid like most airlines seem to do when they end operations.
TUIflyer From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2008, 205 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 5473 times:
No bmibaby staff have been offered jobs, only interviews in January with no guarantee of a job, BA has been less than considerate with the airline and it's staff.
mainMAN From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2005, 2064 posts, RR: 6 Reply 8, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 5444 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 7): BA has been less than considerate with the airline and it's staff.
Thankfully there are other expanding airlines, and hopefully opportunities at EMA, BHX and MAN.
I used bmibaby to AGP, PRG and AMS (I think) during its tenure at Manchester, and also bmi to IAD, EDI and LHR. The demise of this great airline group is regrettable to say the least.
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 24920 posts, RR: 60 Reply 9, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 5430 times:
If I'm honest I never liked the product and had some bad experiences and never flew them after. Still it's sad to see any carrier go down and more importantly it's staff. I hope they all get new jobs with other Airlines or whatever they wish to do in future.
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
TUIflyer From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2008, 205 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 5374 times:
Its the staff I empathise with, MON and LS have started new routes but any positions that will be created will be for the short term seasonal, BE has not recruited yet, the new routes are nowhere near the capacity that WW offered. BA are publicly stating they have offered staff jobs and all are doing all they can but in reality they have treated the airline and its staff with contempt, even asking staff who have been made redundant to pay for a leaving party! There is no doubt in mind that if VS would have bought BD this would be a different story!
Maybe, but BA categorically said that all it was interested in was slots, the VS bid would have been better for BD and its staff, I believe that VS would have at least tried to save WW even if only to prevent negative PR for thr short term. I suggest you check your facts about the VS MAN service as well, they have said that they are committed to short haul and plan to keep the MAN route even in they dont get the EDI and ABZ slots. The ironic thing for LH was that they went straight for the BA bid as it was much higher in value than the VS one, yet had to give an £80m discount as they failed to sell baby and regional as well as giving one world a virtual monopoly on LHR, not very clever strategically on LH's part!
bestwestern From Ireland, joined Sep 2000, 6439 posts, RR: 58 Reply 13, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 5152 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 12): I believe that VS would have at least tried to save WW
I disagree. LH tried for twelve months to sell Baby, and failed. The company was not viable, nor had any signs of future viability. otherwise someone else would have bought it. LH were willing to pay a company to take WW from them. LH had to pay BA to take WW to cover the costs of an orderly wind-down.
The negative PR for BA over the closure of WW is small.
Speedbird2155 From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2005, 847 posts, RR: 5 Reply 14, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 4981 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 7): BA has been less than considerate with the airline and it's staff.
Exactly what would you want IAG (the company that bought BMI not BA.) to do with an airline that it did not want? LH failed to sell BMIBaby as no other airline or investor would go near it. Once the BMI group was bought and IAG made the decision to integrate BMI mainline, it was clear that if BMIBaby and BMI Regional couldn't be sold, then they would be closed. Regional was later sold, but Baby wasn't.
As for the staff. BA has just spent many years cutting staff numbers and streamlining it's organisation. There is no way that BA would have kept employees just for the sake of it. With mainline, BA has kept on large numbers of staff in various areas and indeed, many of the non-operational staff have found roles in other areas of BA. LHR based mainline flight and cabin crew are being taken into BA and other staff have been given various opportunities to apply for roles in BA. There is no way that BA could guarantee everyone associated with BMI continued employment.
kaitak From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11956 posts, RR: 37 Reply 15, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 4965 times:
I flew with WW on numerous occasions over the last decade and cannot remember being disappointed with them on any occasion; their staff were always nice, their on board food/drink offerings fine, they were reliable, reasonably punctual and good value; what more can one ask of a low cost airline?
I do wish all their staff well for the future.
Now that WW has gone, BE will be taking over their one remaining route from JER (from EMA) and of course, that means prices shooting sky high (as happened on MAN) and pax numbers moving in the opposite direction. I wish U2 had taken over the EMA route and that they'd come onto the JER-MAN route; a Dash 8 doesn't really cut it as a low cost operator's aircraft.
Try and turn the airline around, and then shut it down if they couldn't make it work, I understand that BA cannot employ staff for the sake of it but they could done a lot more to accommodate WW staff. BA actually said that WW staff could apply for LGW beach fleet but then when many went to apply changed their minds over and over again. The annoying thing is that while BA were making BD crew redundant at other bases as well as WW staff, they were continuing to recruit from their mixed fleet holding pool!
Emalad From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 443 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 4719 times:
I have flown WW many times and always found them to be the best of the bunch. I will certainly miss them at EMA I have a friend who is cabin crew and will be on one of the last flights today. Does anyone know what is happening to the 737s?
callumm92 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 113 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 4649 times:
Quoting Emalad (Reply 17): Does anyone know what is happening to the 737s?
I think they're being ferried to Norwich and Lasham tomorrow. I don't know if they have new homes yet - apparently BA did consider sending them for LGW ops, but decided against it in the end.
Speedbird2155 From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2005, 847 posts, RR: 5 Reply 19, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 4620 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 16): Try and turn the airline around, and then shut it down if they couldn't make it work, I understand that BA cannot employ staff for the sake of it but they could done a lot more to accommodate WW staff. BA actually said that WW staff could apply for LGW beach fleet but then when many went to apply changed their minds over and over again. The annoying thing is that while BA were making BD crew redundant at other bases as well as WW staff, they were continuing to recruit from their mixed fleet holding pool!
Why spend money trying to turn around an airline that you don't want and doesn't fit into your business model? Even worse, spend money on it to later shut it down?? If that had happen, many on here would rightly then turn and complain about BA having wasted money. And quite frankly, the shareholders would never accept it.
As for applying to LGW, this could only happen if LGW has vacancies. At present LGW is undergoing massive change, so expecting to just be gifted into LGW was unrealistic. Many BA staff at LGW also face uncertain futures.
As for mixed fleet, there are strict recruitment criteria and BA wouldn't just allow others to just be moved into mixed fleet without going through that process. Anyone, WW staff included, are welcomed to apply for mixed fleet when vacancies arise. The holding pool is there for a reason.....they have been through the recruitment and been successful, pending available vacancies.
BA is a business that is run for profit. It is not a charity. Understandably, it isn't nice when there are jobs are lost, but no matter what happened, there were always going to be some jobs that would go. A lot more jobs have been secured by IAGs purchase of BMI than if LH had just shut the company down. I won't speculate as to what VS would have done, as none of us know. However, if VS was serious about BMI then they would have made a serious and viable offer to LH, which they didn't.
BA174 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2009, 718 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (8 months 2 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 4589 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 12): the VS bid would have been better for BD and its staff, I believe that VS would have at least tried to save WW
Really? I beg to differ. I bet most BD staff take the view they are very lucky to have jobs and won't be picky over who bought then other than the fact BA have given them a very generous integration package.
WW has been doomed for years as others have previously said and LH knew no buyer for BD would want baby and hence attempted to offload it. That's the reality I'm afraid.
BA could have turned it around or improved WW's fortunes and found a buyer. Apparently there were several buyers interested in WW at one stage but LH wouldnt sign a deal. And the point I am making if you actually read my post correctly is that BA messed WW staff around and said they could apply for LGW then changed their minds several times. I also find your comments about BA's mixed fleet criteria insulting, last time I checked MF requirement were no different to anyother airlines. The fact is that most WW crew probably wouldnt have gone for LGW or mixed fleet anyway because of the commute, but it would have been nice for BA to at least offer MF, one they would have got experienced crew (many of
whom have worked at BD before) and second they could have saved on some redundancy payouts.
I'm sure BD staff at MAN, BHD, DUB etc would disagree, they werent even offered LHR.
The fact that BA received £80m discount to shut down WW, yet refused to even give staff a leaving do as a thank you sums it up, there is no wonder that BA is indeed a very divided airline with many disillusioned staff who only remain because of their generous contracts.
jrn216 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2012, 34 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 4215 times:
I had forgotten that today was bmibaby's last flight from Jersey but I happened to be passing the Airport to see the last flight to East Midlands take-off, which I am pleased I saw.
For all the airline's problems, it has been good for Jersey and was the Island's first proper low-cost airline when flights were launched back in 2002. Of course, Jersey had a very long relationship with British Midland going back many years so it is the end of an era in the Island's aviation history.
Jersey in the last 10 years has been served by bmibaby from East Midlands, Manchester, Cardiff, Bournemouth, Durham-Tees and Birmingham. Some of these routes lasted longer than others - Bournemouth only a matter of months. But East Midlands was always a popular route, and it is a pity that we are now left with Flybe.
Don't get me wrong, it is good to see another airline taking up the route. But as Kaitak mentioned, Flybe is not what this route needs; it can sustain a much greater capacity/frequency, and prices will simply go up and passenger numbers will go down. It is the same with Manchester. Easyjet/Jet2 would be more than welcome.
Eurohub From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 230 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 4142 times:
I went up to EMA today to witness the passing of WW from the crash gate next to the A453: it looked like business as usual as G-TOYJ arrived from ALC followed shortly by G-TOYM from CTA whilst G-TOYK departed for JER. I had my camera with me and snapped some other activity, but came away without any shots of WW aircraft!
Quoting Emalad (Reply 17): I have flown WW many times and always found them to be the best of the bunch. I will certainly miss them at EMA
Agreed, I enjoyed all my flights with WW - countless trips to NCE, AMS, CDG, ORK, EDI and GLA but I don't ever recall a full flight and if my experience is anything to go by, it's no real surprise that the end has come to pass!
Good luck to all WW staff.
Forget A vs B - Give me E or BAe any day of the week!
eurowings From UK - England, joined Sep 2011, 298 posts, RR: 0 Reply 25, posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 4086 times:
Goodbye WW.
East Midlands is really the true home of British Midland, so I think the demise of bmi's main operation there is a significant moment. British Midland can trace its roots back to the founding of Derby Aviation in 1949 and the airline first commenced operations at EMA when it opened in 1965.
Thankfully, British Midland lives on at EMA (for now) as the newly independent bmi Regional and will continue high-frequency services to BRU and FRA.
tonystan From Ireland, joined Jan 2006, 1176 posts, RR: 2 Reply 28, posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 4055 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 22):
The fact that BA received £80m discount to shut down WW, yet refused to even give staff a leaving do as a thank you sums it up, there is no wonder that BA is indeed a very divided airline with many disillusioned staff who only remain because of their generous contracts.
Eurohub From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 230 posts, RR: 0 Reply 29, posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 3823 times:
Quoting callumm92 (Reply 18): I think they're being ferried to Norwich and Lasham tomorrow.
G-TOYJ departed EMA at 1230 local towards the west and performed a clockwise circuit to do a low pass over the field before turning towards the south. Flightradar24 has her heading almost due south over Leamington Spa at 15000' at 1250 local so I presume the destination is Lasham
Forget A vs B - Give me E or BAe any day of the week!
bmibaby737 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 1636 posts, RR: 10 Reply 32, posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 3782 times:
This was the expected movements for today, as of yesterday:
ex East Midlands (Local times)
G-TOYK 1120 to Lasham
G-TOYF 1140 to Lasham
G-BVKB 1150 to Norwich
G-TOYJ 1200 to Lasham
G-BVZE 1200 to Norwich
G-TOYL 1210 to Norwich
G-OBMP 1220 to Norwich
G-TOYG 1220 to Lasham
G-TOYM 1240 to Lasham
G-OGBD 1300 to Lasham
ex Birmingham (Local times)
G-TOYI 1110 to Norwich
G-TOYD 1120 to Norwich
G-TOYH 1130 to Norwich
G-ODSK 1140 to Norwich
sam1987 From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2005, 939 posts, RR: 1 Reply 33, posted (8 months 1 week 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 3404 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 22): The fact that BA received £80m discount to shut down WW, yet refused to even give staff a leaving do as a thank you sums it up, there is no wonder that BA is indeed a very divided airline with many disillusioned staff who only remain because of their generous contracts.
I gather the £80m was given to IAG to cover the shut down costs.
WW was operated as its own company right until the end, so their own management should've have provided a thank you do if they had wanted one...
Quoting bmibaby737 (Reply 32): This was the expected movements for today, as of yesterday:
ex East Midlands (Local times)
G-TOYK 1120 to Lasham
G-TOYF 1140 to Lasham
G-BVKB 1150 to Norwich
G-TOYJ 1200 to Lasham
G-BVZE 1200 to Norwich
G-TOYL 1210 to Norwich
G-OBMP 1220 to Norwich
G-TOYG 1220 to Lasham
G-TOYM 1240 to Lasham
G-OGBD 1300 to Lasham
ex Birmingham (Local times)
G-TOYI 1110 to Norwich
G-TOYD 1120 to Norwich
G-TOYH 1130 to Norwich
G-ODSK 1140 to Norwich
Do we know who flew the aircraft?
Are they going to be scrapped or are they awaiting to be sold?
Next flights: LGW-LBA-LGW, LHR-SIN-SYD, SYD-BKK-LHR, LGW-GRO, GRO-CIA, CIA-MAD, MAD-LGW
FlyCaledonian From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 1965 posts, RR: 3 Reply 35, posted (8 months 1 week 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 3066 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 22): The fact that BA received £80m discount to shut down WW, yet refused to even give staff a leaving do as a thank you sums it up, there is no wonder that BA is indeed a very divided airline with many disillusioned staff who only remain because of their generous contracts.
BA didn't receive a £80 million discount - IAG did. It is IAG that has decided to shut WW down. It is IAG that sold off bmi regional. It is IAG that decided it was going to merge BD into BA. Why can't people understand that BA had nothing to do with bmi baby and bmi regional?
YVRLTN From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 2091 posts, RR: 0 Reply 36, posted (7 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2205 times:
Quoting bmibaby737 (Reply 32): This was the expected movements for today, as of yesterday:
ex East Midlands (Local times)
G-TOYK 1120 to Lasham
G-TOYF 1140 to Lasham
G-BVKB 1150 to Norwich
G-TOYJ 1200 to Lasham
G-BVZE 1200 to Norwich
G-TOYL 1210 to Norwich
G-OBMP 1220 to Norwich
G-TOYG 1220 to Lasham
G-TOYM 1240 to Lasham
G-OGBD 1300 to Lasham
ex Birmingham (Local times)
G-TOYI 1110 to Norwich
G-TOYD 1120 to Norwich
G-TOYH 1130 to Norwich
G-ODSK 1140 to Norwich
I happened to drive by NWI a couple of weeks ago and saw this - excuse the heat haze, but sorry to see.
VV701 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 6628 posts, RR: 17 Reply 38, posted (7 months 3 weeks 5 days ago) and read 1718 times:
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 7): BA has been less than considerate with the airline and it's staff.
Of course BD management was considerate to those it had employed, forcing the sale of the airline along with all of its staff's jobs to Lufthansa Group who very clearly did not want to buy bmi, bmi Regional or bmiBaby.
And LH were so considerate in insisting that IAG bought bmi Regional and bmiBaby without seriously trying themselves to sell them separately even though IAG clearly stated their disinterest in either. Indeed Lufthansa Groiup had to sweeten the pill by agreeing a discount on the overall purchase if IAG failed to sell them within an agreed period.
At least IAG made the effort to save both bmi Regional, bmiBaby and the jobs of their staff. Indeed IAG managed to sell bmi Regional and save the jobs of their staff for the knock-down price of £8 million when it had been reported that Lufthansa Group had previously refused an offer of £20 million from the same syndicate then calling itself Granite Aviation.
So most of the blame for the loss of the bmiBaby jobs lies on the shoulders of Bishop and Lufthansa Group, neither of whom cared a damn. IAG certainly failed to sell bmiBaby as a going concern. But at least they tried. That is more than cleary evidenced by the continuing operation of the other half of the equation, bmi Regional for which both Bishop and Lufthansa Group failed to find a future.
So we can thank IAG for saving the jobs of the employees of both bmi and bmi Regional where Bishop and Lufthansa Group failed and feel sorry that they failed to save those of bmiBaby employees.
As for BA . . . As has already been pointed out, bmiBaby has never, ever had anything to do with them. They never owned bmiBaby. They had no say whatever in their future other than to say - like all those who inquired about bmiBaby, that they had no interest in the airline which simply did not fit into their business plan.
Who benefitted from the demise of bmiBaby. Not BA. Not IAG. And certainly not the bmiBaby employees. Really if you have to look no further than Bishop who gave up on what was his baby but walked away with a bank load of money then Lufthansa Group carries some responsibility for not making a serious effort to sell them as a going concern so someone who wanted them and, like Bishop, forcing their sale.
Quoting TUIflyer (Reply 10): There is no doubt in mind that if VS would have bought BD this would be a different story!
No doubt? If it were true then VS would have bought WW from Lufthansa Group or from IAG. The asking price would have been low but perhaps not as low as the £1 that BA paid for Dan Air back in November 1992. But ask yourself why Bishop forced the sale to Lufthansa Group in the first place. In simple terms VS could have put their money where their mouth was. But they did not.
Quoting sam1987 (Reply 33): Are they going to be scrapped or are they awaiting to be sold?
This would be down to the lessors. I believe they are:
G-BVKB: Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS)
G-BVZE: Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS)
G-OBMP: Tombo Aviation
G-ODSK: Novel Leasing
G-OGBD: ORIX Corporation
G-TOYD: International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC)
G-TOYF: GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS)
G-TOYG: GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS)
G-TOYH: GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS)
G-TOYI: International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC)
G-TOYJ: Boullioun Aircraft Holding Company
G-TOYK: GATX Corporation (General American Transportation Corporatiion)
G-TOYL: BBAM Aircraft Leasing and Management (Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management)
G-TOYM: Aviation Capital Group (ACG)
TUIflyer From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2008, 205 posts, RR: 0 Reply 39, posted (7 months 3 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 1584 times:
Quoting sam1987 (Reply 33): WW was operated as its own company right until the end, so their own management should've have provided a thank you do if they had wanted one...
Quoting FlyCaledonian (Reply 35): Why can't people understand that BA had nothing to do with bmi baby and bmi regional?
BA management was at Castle Donnington calling the shots; surely BA/IAG management would be involved in the closing down to make sure it was done as cost effective as possible?
skipness1E From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2007, 2380 posts, RR: 0 Reply 40, posted (7 months 3 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1512 times:
Quoting VV701 (Reply 38): So most of the blame for the loss of the bmiBaby jobs lies on the shoulders of Bishop and Lufthansa Group, neither of whom cared a damn
That's overly emotive, in cold business terms it wasn't worth the effort to try and turn it round, squeezed as it was between Ryanair and easyJet but without the niche of Jet2. This was an airline that couldn't make money out of MANCHESTER, this was an airline set up with the back of a fag packet business plan in Cardiff with reluctant crews removed from LHR.
If there was a realistic chance of turning that around then it would have sold as a going concern It was not, as the it was apparent that the competition would be better waiting to pick up the pieces after closure without taking on the added costs of a slightly dysfunctional company. Commercially it was clear a long time ago what was likely to happen. BMI Baby was a half baked attempt from day one which in a massive growth market, DID NOT grow at the pace of the competition.
Any new owner looking at that would have been looking to get it off the books as soon as possible, if for no other reason that time spent worrying about it was time spent not focussing like a laser on the parts of the business that were making money.
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From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2011, 108 posts, 
. Hundreds of staff will be made jobless and the infamous WW logo will disappear along with the B733's and B735's. There first flight was from East Midlands to Malaga on the 22nd March 2002, and ten years later the very last flight ever of BmiBaby will be from Malaga to East Midlands on the 9th September.
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