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British Midland (bmi) has admitted that it may not be able to continue as a going concern beyond next year in the face of an acute funding crisis at the airline.

The airline’s funding situation is sufficiently precarious for Deloitte, its accountant, to warn that there is uncertainty about whether the airline can carry on. The accounts were signed off on October 23 and Deloitte made it clear that there was no guarantee Lufthansa would stand behind its British subsidiary or give it further financial support.

Lufthansa took control of bmi when Sir Michael Bishop, the former chairman, exercised an option to sell his 50 per cent stake to the Germans for about £220 million. Much of bmi’s value lies in its ownership of 11 per cent of the landing slots at Heathrow. Slot pairs have traded for tens of millions of pounds in the past but their value has fallen in the recession. The airline has cut the value of its slots by 20 per cent from £770 million to £616 million.

source: Times Online

UK-based airline bmi has signed a new codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines. The new agreement is expected to provide bmi customers with access to a wider range of destinations in the US in a single booking.

The deal will reportedly allow bmi to offer fares to Newark Liberty International and George Bush Intercontinental from London Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham International, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Brussels and also improve connections between US and the bmi network.

source: tradingmarkets.com

Lufthansa will take full control of BMI British Midland by buying a 20 per cent stake from Scandinavian carrier SAS, a move that will give the German carrier freedom to decide the fate of its Heathrow subsidiary.

Europe’s largest airline will pay SAS  38m ($61m), half for the stake and the other half for SAS relinquishing rights codified in a shareholder agreement in 1999, both airlines said wi thout giving further details.

Taking over the secondlargest UK carrier appears to put Lufthansa into direct competition with British Airways at its Heathrow hub.

source: FT.com

The second largest airline operator at Heathrow has announced it is cutting dozens of services from its weekly schedule of flights.

BMI British Midland is scrapping part of its domestic network and slashing capacity to Europe in an attempt to stem losses.

The airline is expected to announce today that it is axing two of its services between Heathrow and Leeds and Bradford and Durham Tees Valley.

A total of seven daily departures will be cut, on top of the previously announced closure of the twice-daily service between Heathrow and Jersey.

source: thisislondon.co.uk

British airline Flybe is in talks to buy British Midland’s subsidiary operations bmi regional and bmi baby, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Lufthansa took over British Midland last month, but the German airline has indicated it is more interested in bmi’s long-haul routes and valuable Heathrow slots than in the two subsidiaries.

Bmi regional is UK-focused, while bmi baby is a low-cost airline that flies to a number of European destinations.

source: Reuters

The airline will take an 80% share of the UK company by buying the 50% owned by BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop for £318 million.

The move was welcomed by Virgin Atlantic, who said the deal could allow a BMI alliance between the two companies to rival competitor British Airways.

The deal is expected to be completed by mid-January. It will give Lufthansa control of more flights from London Heathrow airport than any other airline except British Airways.

source: Sky News

Airline British Midlands (BMI) is trialling a mobile phone-based ticket system which could replace its print-at-home scheme if successful.

The text messages will display a barcode on the handset screen and will work only once to prevent unauthorised access to the boarding gate.

BMI’s goal is to speed up boarding times for customers travelling without luggage.

The airline is using the paperless system on routes connecting London to Edinburgh, Manchester and Belfast City.

source: vnunet.com

Airline bmi is to terminate its daily return service between Inverness and London Heathrow because of a lack of bookings.

The company said flights on the route, which was launched in March 2004, would end on 29 March.

Lib Dem MP Danny Alexander said it was a “‘disgraceful decision'” to close the city’s only link to Heathrow.

Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson is seeking a meeting with the airline to urge a rethink on the move.

fuente: BBC

BMI, the UK’s third-largest airline, will start daily non-stop flights from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport in March, becoming the second British carrier to fly that route. British Airways Plc had been the only UK airline allowed to operate between London and Tel Aviv.

The UK and Israeli governments agreed in September to allow another British carrier to operate the route.

source: The Jerusalem Post

Britain and Israel reached an agreement Tuesday for each country to allow a second airline to fly the London-Tel Aviv route.

Currently only British Airways and El Al make such commercial flights.

The Israeli Transportation Ministry called the agreement “‘a significant step toward opening the skies to competition.'”

Britain’s Department for Transport said bmi is the only British airline that has expressed interest in competing with BA on the route, and bmi announced that it plans to start daily, nonstop service next spring.

source: International Herald Tribune