bmi to Upgrade African and CIS Routes

The return of an Airbus A330-200 following its lease to Turkish Airlines (THY) will enable bmi British Midland International to upgrade its flights to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Sierra Leone this summer. From June 26 the aircraft will be introduced on flights from London Heathrow to Almaty, Bishkek and Freetown, replacing the narrowbodied aircraft that currently serve these particular routes.

The London – Freetown link is currently operated four times weekly by an Airbus A321 with an intermediate stop in Malaga. The use of the longer-range A330-200 will enable this stop to be eliminated, although frequencies will drop to three flights per week. Approximately 23,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year, up 5.3 per cent of the previous 12 month period, with bmi accounting for more than 90 per cent of this traffic. This is a high-yield route for bmi as the only operator between the two countries, with average fares of $950 each way.

The HUB reported last month that proposed start-up Leone Airways, a joint venture between the Government of Sierra Leone and Arik Air, planned to launch flights later this year with Freetown – London proposed as its inaugural route. This is likely to have driven bmi’s selection of this route for upgrade to the widebodied model.

The London – Almaty – Bishkek route is currently operated three times weekly using a Boeing 757-200 leased from Astraeus Airlines. The use of the Airbus A330-200 will represent a 23.7 per cent increase in capacity on the route. bmi faces competition from Air Astana between London and Astana, but there are no rivals from the UK capital to Bishkek. Approximately 27,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route to Kazakhstan and 2,500 to Kyrgyzstan, with bmi holding a 47 per cent and 61 per cent share of this traffic, respectively.

bmi is also to boost capacity on its London Heathrow – Moscow Domodedovo link from June 19. The airline currently offers one flight per day with an A320 and one per day with an A321, but from that date it will serve both routes with the larger A321. The UK carrier is a relative newcomer to the Russian market, but has already secured a strong position.

bmi only launched flights between London Heathrow and Moscow Domodedovo in October 2006 and added a second daily frequency from October 2008, but already holds a 21.6 per cent share of the total traffic between the two cities. Its flights are operated under a codeshare arrangement with Russian carrier Transaero Airlines, which also offers a twice daily schedule. British Airways (BA) and Aeroflot Russian Airlines each offer three flights per day, BA to Domodedovo and Aeroflot to its hub at Sheremetyevo. bmi accounts for 17.7 per cent of the total seats between the two cities, with BA dominating the capacity with a 38.3 per cent share due to the use of larger widebodied Boeing 767-300s on eleven of its 21 weekly flights.

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NOTE: Schedule data extracted from Flightbase for week commencing April 14, 2011; Traffic data extracted from IATA BSP system for the year ending January 2011.