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[Sierra3]

BMI R seems to have rather frozen its route structure at BRS, with no major changes / destinations for quite some time.

See from RoutesonLine that BMI Regional is opening a BHX base with 3 new routes, none of which compete with BRS.

The use of the word 'base' suggests an aircraft being located there, could this be coming from BRS ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

BMI R seems to have rather frozen its route structure at BRS, with no major changes / destinations for quite some time.

See from RoutesonLine that BMI Regional is opening a BHX base with 3 new routes, none of which compete with BRS.

The use of the word 'base' suggests an aircraft being located there, could this be coming from BRS ?

Yes, it will be a base at BHX. Where the aircraft and crews are coming from I don't know. When bmir lost the Airbus corporate shuttle contract a year ago (now operated by Eastern) it meant there was a need for slightly fewer bmir aircraft at BRS. Whether there has been a spare aircraft rotating around BRS and other bases in the meantime I don't know. I'm not aware of any route/frequency reductions at BRS this coming summer.

The BHX bmir initiative has been discussed at some length in the BHX bmir thread (see link below). It would seem that JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) will be a user of these BHX routes so that might underpin them in the same way that Airbus and Imperial Tobacco underpin the bmir Hamburg route at BRS and Leonardo underpins the bmir Milan Malpensa route there.

http://www.forums4airports.com/threads/2615/page-2

 

[David_itl]

Noticed CityJet have been using their SSJs on BM routes today. Any maintenance issues for the BM ERJ145s?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Noticed CityJet have been using their SSJs on BM routes today. Any maintenance issues for the BM ERJ145s?

They've been doing this for a while at BRS. I'm not sure how often though. I don't know the reason.

 

[David_itl]

Perhaps it may be gauging passenger perception for a potential order for a few of them? Larger capacity allow baseline ticket prices to drop to lead to greater passenger numbers?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Perhaps it may be gauging passenger perception for a potential order for a few of them? Larger capacity allow baseline ticket prices to drop to lead to greater passenger numbers?

It's possible. Last summer the bmir CEO in a press interview (see below link) said the airline was looking at 70-100 seat aircraft to meet demand on some routes with Bristol-Germany mentioned.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transp...hief-of-airline-investments-limited-1-4146128

 

[Jerry]

It's possible. Last summer the bmir CEO in a press interview (see below link) said the airline was looking at 70-100 seat aircraft to meet demand on some routes with Bristol-Germany mentioned.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transp...hief-of-airline-investments-limited-1-4146128

Considering they are already flying Embraer then maybe the E 170 or E175 would be a good size and fit for them. E190 and 195 may be too big.

 

[andrewgreen]

They have launched new routes recently ( not sure if they have actually started operating them though ) although not from Bristol so maybe its just a lack of aircraft ?
Are the ssj's using bmi crews or cityjet crews ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

They have launched new routes recently ( not sure if they have actually started operating them though ) although not from Bristol so maybe its just a lack of aircraft ?
Are the ssj's using bmi crews or cityjet crews ?

Almost certainly CityJet crews. Apart from anything else the bmir crews would be highly unlikely to be qualified for SSJ operation.

The new bmir BHX routes will commence in the spring.

 

[andrewgreen]

Noticed CityJet have been using their SSJs on BM routes today. Any maintenance issues for the BM ERJ145s?

Another ssj inbound to Bristol just now operating for bmi
This seems to have been happening for a while could it be a lease rather than just ad-hoc ?

 

[superking]

There has been talk in the dried plum this last week or so that bmi are looking to replace the current fleet. No one has any answers with what.

 

[Jerry]

There has been talk in the dried plum this last week or so that bmi are looking to replace the current fleet. No one has any answers with what.

Considering they are all Embraer then i would've thought the E170 would be a prime candidate or the CRJ700. Not much else out there in that category.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Another ssj inbound to Bristol just now operating for bmi
This seems to have been happening for a while could it be a lease rather than just ad-hoc ?

FR24 shows the SSJ, EI-FWB, positioning in from Dublin at 1216 to operate the 1330 BM1817 to Milan Malpensa, returning at 1815.

It actually returned at 1850 according to FR24 and is due to position back to Dublin at 1945.

Mayfly* shows an ER4 as the equipment which suggests that this was not a pre-planned move.

*Not always one hundred per cent accurate

 

[alphagolf]

Not sure if I have missed a trick here, but was just flicking through the bmiregional booking engine and noticed that MXP from BRS is 5 times weekly from May 2017.

BRS - MXP Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun
MXP - BRS Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun

Apologise if this has been mentioned before.........

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Not sure if I have missed a trick here, but was just flicking through the bmiregional booking engine and noticed that MXP from BRS is 5 times weekly from May 2017.

BRS - MXP Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun
MXP - BRS Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun

Apologise if this has been mentioned before.........

I don't think it's been mentioned before. Thanks for pointing it out. bmir seems to go up and down through the gears with MXP. At one point it looked as though it was being axed altogether a year or two ago.

I wonder what has given rise to this. Leonardo (previously Augusta Westland) at Yeovil seems to use the service a lot but from what I've seen mainly on Mondays and Fridays when a coach arrives from Yeovil with staff. I have to admit I can't understand why easyJet hasn't reinstated its own MXP route that was chopped in 2010. To me it's easily the leading contender of easyJet routes not served at Bristol when I look down the easyJet overall destination list. An easyJet return would almost certainly sound the death knell for bmir on MXP.

 

[Marko1]

Bmi regional have launched a sat am flight to Paris this summer. Now a daily service

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Summer 2017

Further to alphagolf's post re the increase in MXP frequencies and Marko's post re a new Saturday service to CDG this coming summer, I've had a look at the bmir booking engine and this appears to be the programme for summer 2017:

Milan Malpensa 5 x weekly - M, W/Th (out W, back Th), F, Sa and Su
Paris Cdg 12 x weekly - daily Sa and Su; 2 x daily M-F;
Dusseldorf 9 x weekly - daily, M, F and Su; 2 x daily Tu, W and Th
Frankfurt 18 x weekly - daily Sa, 2 x daily Su; 3 x daily M-F
Hamburg 7 x weekly - daily T-F and Su; 2 x daily M
Munich 13 x weekly - daily Sa; 2 x daily M-F and Su
Aberdeen 11 x weekly - daily Su; 2 x daily M-F

As well as the increases on MXP and CDG, I think that HAM might also have gained a weekly rotation (one of the two on Mondays).

There are also weekly rotations on behalf of tour companies to Verona, Bastia, Cagliari and Figari.

 

[Severn]

From ch-aviation.com:

bmi regional will shortly wet-lease an undisclosed number of SSJ 100-95s from CityJet ch-aviation research has revealed.

According to the UK carrier's booking portal, effective February 27, the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft twinjet will be deployed on bmi regional flights from Bristol Int'l to each of Aberdeen Dyce and Paris CDG. The contract to either destination will end on March 19 and 25 respectively following which both services will revert to their usual ERJ-145 equipment.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Presumably there is a shortage of aircraft and/or crews during this time. We already know that bmir has been using the CityJet Sukhoi at BRS on occasions in recent weeks.

The two daily ABZ rotations are operated by ABZ aircraft and the two CDG by BRS aircraft which means at least two Sukhois. There is a near seven hour gap between the morning CDG getting back to BRS and the late afternoon/evening rotation departing. A similar period no doubt occurs at ABZ. If the Sukhois are not to be deployed on other routes it seems a lot of downtime.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A poster on another forum says the fleet is running at near capacity with the BRS spare covering normal flying. With the winter C-check programme ongoing it means there is a shortage of aircraft at times, hence the short-term wet leasing of the Sukhois.

The poster also said that the airline is getting two more E145s this summer on long leases to help with the airline's expansion programme (BHX for example).