Bmi decreases its Domestic Services

In an attempt to offset losses, Bmi (British Midland International) has decided to reduce the capacity over domestic i.e. London Heathrow to Manchester route.

Bmi will reduce the weekday flight service from six to four from 28th March 2011 over this route. Along with the cutting of number of flights there will also be a reduction in number of seats over the small planes.

At present out of the six weekday flights, Bmi operates four 50-seater Embraer 145 jets and two 150-seater Airbus A319/A320 aircrafts. From 28th March, the only four Embraer 145 jets will be operational over the domestic route while the other two carriers will be transferred to international services.

This reduction will cause a drastic cut in the number of seats i.e. from 500 to 200 that Bmi offers in a day. This will further increase the fares for Bmi customers.

London-Manchester route is a key player for both the domestic as well as international passengers. Many passengers fly to Heathrow for international travel.

The fewer number of seats will shift the preference to lucrative full fare passengers and to those who will make connections on to the Star Alliance member carriers at Heathrow.

It is likely that Bmi might plan to drop its services over London-Glasgow route as this route is also not making to desired profit.

At present Bmi is trying its best to fight the pressure of declining passenger number as well as to overcome the 198 million pounds loss in the last financial year. Bmi also said that the hike in fees to use Heathrow by the next April will further make the domestic travel unpopular. This will again pressurize the domestic network.

The capacity reduction by the Bmi will strengthen the position of British Airways in Heathrow who is also a fellow member of oneworld.