ATW Daily News

Bmibaby to cut fleet by nearly one-third

Thursday November 5, 2009

Bmibaby will reduce its 737 fleet by five aircraft to 12 next year as part of a restructuring plan "that will see it focus its activities and efforts on routes where there are clear indications and prospects for future growth and development."

The low-fare arm of Lufthansa subsidiary bmi said the move will create 10 pilot and 15 flight attendant positions at Nottingham East Midlands while putting 54 pilots and 82 cabin staff at Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff "at risk of redundancy," along with as 22 management and support positions. Bmibaby said it has "commenced discussions with staff and union representatives with a view to minimizing job losses wherever possible."

It did not detail which routes it intends to shelve and said part of the freed-up capacity will be shifted to EMA, from which it plans to launch service to Cork, Venice, Barcelona, Newquay, Malta, Alghero, Dubrovnik and Bastia between mid-December and June.

"The aviation industry is facing its toughest time ever. It is experiencing record losses and remedial action has to be taken. Bmibaby is no exception to this," MD Crawford Rix said.

Meanwhile, the bmi mainline struck a codeshare deal with Continental Airlines under which it will place its code on CO flights to Newark and Houston Intercontinental from London Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow International, Edinburgh and Brussels. CO will codeshare on bmi flights connecting through the aforementioned destinations as well as Belfast City and Amman.

by Cathy Buyck

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