Bye Bye Baby, bmibaby Goodbye

As many in Gibraltar settled down to watch the Jessie J / UB40 megaconcert at Victoria Stadium last night, at the airport the last ever bmibaby flight to Gibraltar was turning around to head back to East Midlands Airport (EMA) for the final time.

 
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.

Andalus Airlines - Gibraltar to Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao

Andalus Airlines have updated their website to include Gibraltar's North Front Airport.

When selected it offers routings:

• Gibraltar > Madrid Barajas
• Gibraltar > Barcelona
  
• Gibraltar > Bilbao Loiu

While no flights appear to have been loaded into the system yet and so are not able to be booked, the currency options now include Sterling (Libra Esterlina) alongside Euros and Moroccan Dirhams.

Gibraltar has been without a link to Madrid following Iberias decision to cancel its once daily (and finally only twice weekly) using an Airbus A319 citing load factors.

Widespread belief is that their is a far greater business market for a twice daily service than once daily, and that even once daily would be viable using a smaller aircraft.

Andalus is a newly established operator based in Malaga airport offering flights to varius airports in Spain, Moroco (and now Gibraltar) airports using an Embraer ERJ145 regional jet which can be configured for around 50 seats.

Monarch restores Manchester - Gibraltar flights, BA flight times change.

Monarch Airlines have reintroduced their service between Manchester Airport and Gibraltar.

Despite reports of very good loads, the route was suspended 2 years ago by Monarch in protest over the higher than typical landing charges at Gibraltar Airport. Landing charges were at the time set by the MOD who operate the airport as RAF Gibraltar.

The reintroduction of Manchester flights follows a deal struct between the Government of Gibraltar and the MoD whereby the Government would contribute to the costs of the airport but would be able to reduce charges.

Flight times:

Depart MAN 0715, Arrive GIB 1115
Depart GIB 1200, Arrive MAN 1400

It will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 12th September.

[Monday services operate 20 minutes earlier at 0655 and 1140.]

Interestingly it is currently planned to be operated as a simple out-and-back service, previously it operated as a W pattern from Manchester to Gibraltar and back with Luton Airport in the middle.

British Airways schedule change for winter:

Due to BAs currently highly stretched fleet as they try to cover a GB Airways sized hole in their operation (following easyJet's purchase of the local owned franchise operator) British Airways has been limited to just one daily service from London, departing in the morning.

From Sunday the 26th October, it will switch to the afternoon:

Depart LGW 1330, Arrive GIB 1720
Depart GIB 1800, Arrive LGW 1950

Reflecting heavy fleet commitment it had earlier looked like the morning service might have to go red-eye for winter with a circa ~6am departure.

However the fears were not justified as BA have manged to rearrange their schedule to support the lucrative premium traffic on the route

Iberia flights Gibraltar-Madrid switch to evenings for the summer.

Iberia flights to Gibraltar Airport will switch to an evening schedule in advance of the coming summer season.



Since they began operating the route in late 2006 (following the Cordoba agreement where Spain agreed to lift some of her discriminatory air restrictions) Iberia flights have operated at lunch time.

But the schedule has been unpopular as it requires passengers to commit most of the day to travelling. From 2nd May 2008 flight times will switch to the evenings. This will enable people to remain at work/school on the day of their flight and also allow business travellers to make use of their flight day.

Old Schedule:
Depart MAD 1150, Arrive GIB 1300.
Return GIB 1350, Arrive MAD 1500.

New Schedule:
Depart MAD 1930, Arrive GIB 2040.
Return GIB 2130, Arrive MAD 2240.

According to Iberia's published schedule the first flight at the new times will be Friday 2nd May.

[Though there seem to be a few different start dates floating about, JimenaPulse gives May 20th (possibly a misprint for 2nd), and the iberia.com web 'timetable' lists an evening flight on 27th April - the same day as last lunch time flight, but this is also probably a simple error as tickets are not actually being sold for an evening flight on the 27th.]

There is no word on any increase on frequency from the present Fridays and Sundays.

When first launched the flights were daily, however lower demand led to them being reduced to just weekends for the winter. A element of the low demand can certainly be attributed to the midday flight times.

However if there is not the demand for a full A319 service daily, hopefully we can get Air Nostrum (who operate as 'Iberia Regional') to also fly the route.

Air Nostrum regularly receive high praise on all routes they operate (which include services to Italy and France and other European destinations.

Operating a single cabin for all passengers on most routes, called 'regional business class', they offer a better product than Iberia mainline themselves - who rather let down the standards of the OneWorld alliance by making people pay for refreshments on standard tickets.

Introducing daily evening flights to Madrid would also plug some of the present gap following the EasyJet take over of GB Airways.

The replacement British Airways service is currently limited to one flight a day due to BA aircraft shortage. As it is an early morning flight it prevents people flying into Gib doing a same day European connection.

An evening Madrid service would allow passengers who seek a business class service to still make same-day European connections inbound. (Outbound same day connections possible via BA in London.)

Airport Fees Finally Land

The Gibraltar Government have finally(!) announced the introduction of revised landing fees at Gibraltar Airport.

The fees, historically collected by the MoD will, following the 2007 agreement between the MoD and GoG, be collected AND set by the Government.

While Gibraltar will always have higher fees than bargain basement airports there was universal consensus that fees needed to come down.

The issue of fees was of course the cover used by Monarch for the cancellation of the Manchester route. Hopefully this will now be reinstated, as the route had a high yield and many would doubt whether even monarch expected to cancel it in their game of chicken over the fees.

The Governments press release is surprisingly light on the actual detail, given it is delayed (was originally expected before Christmas). However they have at least picked a sensible introduction date of the 30th March aviation season change.