The new independently-owned UK carrier, bmi regional is preparing for a significant expansion this winter as it ends its remaining links with its former parent, bmi British Midland International and starts to establish itself as its own individual aviation business. The carrier was sold to UK investor Sector Aviation Holdings earlier this year by British Airways’ parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) as part of its own purchase of bmi.

Up until now there has been very little change as the airline’s new management team have bedded down in the business. In fact, it has not been a new exercise for Executive Chairman, Ian Woodley, who knows the company well having founded its predecessor, Business Air, which was sold to British Midland in 1996. This transitional phase is now coming to an end. Although the airline continues to fly under bmi ‘BD’ flight numbers and uses the carrier’s website for bookings, this will all change at the end of October when bmi regional will adopt its own IATA flight designator ‘BM’ and open its own booking website.

The new owners of bmi regional have already explored a number of new opportunities for network growth, but will not move away from its existing business model and will continue to provide domestic services within the UK and into Europe with a fleet of ERJ 135 and ERJ 145 regional jets. “It is very much our aim to develop our network in both the UK and Europe, and with the future now secured and uncertainty removed, we can look ahead with confidence,” Ian Woodley explained, and the first fruits the ‘new’ venture are now appearing.

Speaking to The HUB this week at the European Regions Airline Association General Assembly in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ian Woodley revealed more about the rebirth of the carrier and its new ‘streamlined for business’ marketing campaign. “Free from the ties of big carrier ownership and practices we are emerging as a flexible, streamlined, nimble and forward-thinking regional airline with the ability to act quickly to launch new route opportunities and explore new business opportunities in the sector,” he said.

This week the carrier has announced it will launch two new routes during the Northern Winter 2013/2013 schedule and further announcements are expected in November as it outlines in Summer 2013 timetable. These new services comprise twice daily weekday links between Bristol and Aberdeen and between Manchester and Antwerp, with single weekend daily rotations. Both new routes commence from October 29, 2012 and will be operated using a 49-seat ERJ 145 and 37-seat ERJ 135, respectively. According to sources other new links from East Midlands and Newcastle are on the cards for growth with the airline confirming “Newcastle features in our plans,” most likely for summer 2013.

“The introduction of these new routes demonstrates a clear statement of our intent to develop the business going forward and the additional flights will offer customers greater choice and flexibility when travelling directly as well as providing additional onward connectivity,” says the airline, adding: “We are also planning further growth in Spring 2013 with the launch of more European services to suit both business and leisure travellers.”

The Bristol – Aberdeen route is already flown by Eastern Airways using a Saab 2000 but it currently operates via a stop in Leeds Bradford. Eastern has been serving the route since November 2004 and prior to that British Airways had flown between the cities using Bombardier Dash 7 and Dash 8 turboprops. According to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data, 32,810 passengers travelled between Bristol and Aberdeen in 2011, up from 22,668 the previous year.

“We believe there is sufficient demand for the service and the additional flights will offer customers greater choice and flexibility when travelling directly as well as providing additional onward connectivity,” said Woodley. “We strongly believe it is vital that that the airlinks between Scotland and England are maintained and as an organisation we are absolutely committed to building on the core values of this iconic brand, of great customer service, innovation and value for money, that are held so dearly by every one of us in the company.”

The Manchester – Antwerp route is currently flown by Irish regional carrier CityJet using a Fokker 50 but it will suspend the six times weekly service later this month. It launched flights on the route in 2009 when it replaced VLM Airlines on the link flown for its parent company Air France. UK CAA data shows that 27,818 passengers travelled between the two cities in 2011. According to the latest estimates, approximately 9,000 O&D passengers flew on the route during the first half of 2012, down a massive 36.6 per cent on the same period last year.

“We believe there is a strong demand for direct flights between what are two extremely busy conurbations as well as providing onward connectivity from Manchester,” said Woodley. “We are committed to providing a streamlined experience for our customers reducing the total travel time from door to door flying direct from the regions where business is being done.”

The route relaunch has also been welcomed by the management team at Antwerp Airport. “We are delighted to be able to announce the re launch of service from Antwerp to Manchester with a new operator,” said Katleen Pittevils, Marketing & Communications, Anterp Airport. “This route has been well supported by the Belgian market since its launch but a previous reduction in frequency meant the schedules did not ultimately meet their travelling requirements. It will be great to be able to offer a double daily service again with bmi regional.”

The airport also noted the important role that the Route Exchange online platform from Routesonline played in this latest network expansion. “We would like to acknowledge the role that Route Exchange played in helping facilitate this route development, an online platform that enabled us to highlight our own requirements, search potential airline partners and contact them directly via an efficient messaging system,” Pittevils added.

The two new route announcements from bmi regional say a lot about the carrier’s network ambitions. The airline remains committed to operating its fleet of four ERJ-135s and 14 ERJ-145s (14 of these aircraft are fully owned) and it will focus on adding to its European network. It currently flies international links from Aberdeen to Esbjerg and Groningen; from Edinburgh to Brussels, Copenhagen and Zurich; East Midlands to Brussels and Frankfurt; Glasgow to Copenhagen; Leeds Bradford to Brussels and Manchester to Lyon. Domestic routes from Aberdeen to Norwich and Manchester and from Edinburgh to Manchester are also flown. Existing ACMI operations for British Airways and bmi at London Heathrow and for Brussels Airlines from Bristol and Newcastle to Brussels will end in late October.

“It would be an option to put these returning aircraft straight into service on new scheduled routes this winter but we don’t want to be launching such a high number of links at the same time. We thought better to keep these aircraft for charter operations for the season before committing to network growth in the spring when we can ensure the new routes have the best opportunity to succeed,” said Woodley.

The plan, according to Chief Commercial Officer Cathal O’Connell, formerly of Aer Lingus, Aer Arann and Eastern Airways, is to focus on UK connectivity. Also speaking in Dublin this week, he said the carrier will look to serve to link UK regional cities with major EU destinations and regional EU destinations with major UK cities. “We want to be able to offer a good schedule to customers with a double daily weekday service acting as an anchor for an aircraft at one of our bases and filling slot one and four a day, providing the option for a further midday rotation or other work,” said O’Connell. To support this strategy the carrier is currently in talks with other airlines to set up interline and codeshare partnerships.

Since Sector Aviation Holdings took control of bmi regional of June 1, 2012 it has been a busy four months for the airline’s management. As part of the deal the company has full rights to the bmi name from April 1, 2013 but given its regional activities it is unlikely to modify its existing brand, which has had a minor tweak to mark its independent status. Ian Woodley acknowledged it has been a tough year. “It is sometimes easier to launch a new carrier from scratch than to achieve what we have. I have seen comparisons in the media linking this process to performing open heart surgery,” he said.

After attempting to acquire control of bmi regional some three years earlier but having a deal turned down at the last minute, Woodley is looking forward to the airline finally taken to the air in its independent form in late October. He revealed the latest acquisition had not come without its difficulties either. “It had taken around a year to complete,” he said. “We were originally buying the airline from Lufthansa Group but at the last minute things went quiet and we then learnt we would need to start all over again with IAG instead.”