The route commenced on the 31st March this year.
At that time bmi group (of which baby is the LCC [low cost carrier] element) was owned by Lufthansa Group, themselves having relativly recently acquired it from previous long term owener Sir Micheal Bishop.
Strugling to turn around the bmi group as the world suffered a financial downturn, LH Group put it up for sale. Finally reaching an agreement with British Airways owner IAG (International Consolidated Airlines Group) - which was after the valuable Heathrow slots used by the full service carrier 'bmi' (British Midland International).
Under the terms of the deal, the premium paid for bmi group would be substantially reduced if Lufthansa were not able to find a buyer for the 'bmibaby' and 'bmi regional' subsidiares. LHg were unable to find buyers, so the entirty of bmi group was sold as one (at a substantially reduced price).
Having no desire for the 'regional' or 'baby' elements, the subsidiaries were again put up for sale. BA/IAG sucessfully found a buyer for bmi regional, which was sold to a Aberdeen based group of investors.
bmibaby, which operated out of airports which were not generally slot restricted and used a fleet of predominatly leased 737 aircraft (of the older, less cost efficient variety) probably had most value as a brand! But in the LCC world, customers are usually driven by headline prices, so brands don't attract much value for any loyalty factor.
Unable to find a buyer for baby, it was annouced in early May that all bmibaby operations would finish at the end of the peak summer season in September.
It is a mark of confidence in the only recently launched route to Gibraltar Airport, that flights would continue until the company itself stopped operations. Many other bmibaby routes were pulled immdiatly with a just a couple of weeks notice.
Due to the flight schedule to Gibraltar Airport, the final flight flown was on Saturday, 8th Septemeber. No flight was scheduled for Sundays, and today the entire baby operation comes to a close.
Mainline bmi operations are being merged into British Airways operations at London Heathrow, giving even greater choice for BA passengers (including thouse flying on the BA service from Gibraltar).
Passengers wishing to fly direct to the midlands will of course be able to make use of the Monarch Airlines new service to Birmingham Airport which begins in spring next year. Birmingham Airport is far better connected for public transport users than East Midlands Airport, so that is a plus.
As we celebrate national day tomorrow, do spare a thought for thouse bmibaby staff who now face the challenge of finding new employment in these tough times. Hopefully other airlines will expand into the space and take them on.
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