news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Bmi’s low-cost subsidiary Bmibaby took its last flight over the weekend, after just over a decade of operation.

Bmibaby was launched in early 2002, with initial flights between its base at East Midlands airport and Malaga. Over the course of the next decade further bases were opened at Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast City.

When BA’s parent company IAG agreed to buy Bmi from Lufthansa, it had originally been hoped Bmibaby would be sold as a going concern, with several groups entering discussions to buy the budget carrier (see online news February 2 and March 5).

source: businesstraveller.com

International Airlines Group, the parent group of British Airways, claims to have secured around 330 jobs after announcing a buyer for bmi Regional, the Aberdeen-based subsidiary of the airline it recently acquired.

IAG said it has signed a binding agreement to sell bmi Regional to a Scottish consortium, Sector Aviation Holdings, for £8m. The sale includes all bmi Regional’s fixed assets and long-term liabilities, including owned and operating lease aircraft. Bmi Regional operates scheduled services from seven English and Scottish airports as well as a handful of northern European destinations.

source: Guardian.co.uk

Low fare carrier bmibaby is set to close later this year, threatening the loss of hundreds of jobs and the ending of its flights.

The carrier transferred to International Airlines Group, the owners of British Airways, last month, but consultations have now started with unions about its closure in September.

With bmi Regional, bmibaby transferred to International Airlines Group ownership on completion of the purchase from Lufthansa. IAG has consistently said that bmibaby and bmi Regional are not part of its long-term plans.

source: Press Association

Low cost airlines Germanwings and bmibaby have announced an agreement to link their website and list flights of both airlines on germanwings.com and bmibaby.com. This means that customers will benefit from a wider range of available flights.

The link will make it possible to book additional connections through the Germanwings and bmibaby website. In order to minimise booking time, the airlines have combined to introduce an extremely simply ticketing procedure. Having selected a flight, the customer will be forwarded to the corresponding booking page of the partner airline where they will be able to buy to purchase a ticket for the next stage of their journey.

source: traveldailynews.com

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

Low-cost airline bmibaby has revealed that it will open up new routes between the UK and mainland Europe later this year.

Services from Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands and Manchester have been announced as part of its programme for winter 2008.

Some of the flights will connect with what the carrier describes as several key Mediterranean destinations, including places in Spain, Italy and France.

source: ready2invest.co.uk

Budget airline bmibaby has announced the launch of services from Cardiff to Warsaw and the port of Gdansk in the wake of a growing Polish immigration.

Flights went on sale today with fares starting from just £21.99 one way, including all taxes and charges.

The new route to Warsaw starts with a three times a week service operating from Cardiff on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, commencing on February 10.

Flights to Gdansk run twice weekly from Cardiff, departing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with flights beginning on February 9.

source: icWales

bmibaby has launched phase two of it’s exciting rapid expansion programme at Birmingham International Airport for Summer 2007. The expansion plan breaks down into three key initiatives: the introduction of four new routes to Barcelona, Lisbon, Marseille Provence and Rome (Fiumicino); a ramping up of frequencies on key Mediterranean routes; and an increase in frequencies on key domestic routes.

source: Easier

Bmibaby announced last week that travelers can now fly from Birmingham International Airport to Glasgow and Faro as well as Murcia. There will be four flights a week to Murcia and three flights a week to Faro with reduced fares.

source: Costablancaleader.com

BmiBaby is expanding its route network at Birmingham International from next January. The budget airline is going to base three more Boeing 737s at the Midlandâ??s largest airport, taking their Birmingham fleet to eight aircraft.

BmiBaby started operations at Birmingham in January 2005 and has since become the biggest carrier at the airport. The airline currently flies to Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast International, Bordeaux, Cork, Edinburgh, Knock, Nice, Malaga, Palma and Prague from Birmingham.

source: flightmapping.com