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BMI enters Azerbaijan market

05 September 2007 08:37 (UTC +04:00)

BMI, the second largest airline operating at Londonâ€™s Heathrow airport, has announced its takeover of Heathrow-based BA franchise airline British Mediterranean (BMED). BMIâ€™s already impressive flight network will include 17 new destinations throughout Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia as from October 28th.2007..
With this purchase, BMI is now the sole British carrier operating flights between Azerbaijan and the UK. The airline currently operates around 170 flights a day to and from its main Heathrow hub. BMI is also a member of Star Alliance, the worldâ€™s biggest airline alliance, providing passengers with global connections and a smooth travel experience.
British Midland plc, the UK-based group holding company of BMI, has subscribed to approximately Â£30 million of new shares in BMED. BMED, which was established as a limited company in 1994 and operated as an independent franchise partner of British Airways from 1997, currently has a fleet of three Airbus A320 and five Airbus A321 aircraft.
The acquisition enables the BMI group to accelerate its strategy of expansion into medium-haul markets because BMED operates to 17 destinations in 16 countries and has no overlap with any current BMI route.
Tickets for travel on the extended BMI network will go on sale from September 4th 2007.
The BMI group comprises of three business units: BMI, operating a fleet of 28 Airbuses; BMI regional, operating domestic and European business routes from UK regional airports with a fleet of 16 Embraers; and BMIbaby, the low-cost arm of the group, operating 19 Boeing 737s within the UK and Europe. The group has 4,229 employees (as at Jan 07). /APA-Economics/