Pond Hopping - The Story of bmi's Transatlantic Operations

DALLAS - For many years, UK carrier bmi (BD) was a thorn in the side of flag-carrier British Airways (BA). BD was the second biggest operator at BA's London Heathrow (LHR) fortress. But one area where bmi could not compete was on the lucrative transatlantic routes.

For many years, its owner, Sir Michael Bishop, battled against authorities on both sides of the Atlantic to gain access to these coveted services.

Origins

Bmi can trace its history back to 1938 and the formation of Air Schools LTD. In 1959, the name was changed to Derby Airways after the introduction of scheduled flights.

On October 1, 1964, Derby Airways was rebranded again to British Midland Airways, and the carrier gradually expanded its operations on domestic and European routes.

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On March 26, 1970 BD announced its intention to purchase two ex-Pan Am (PA) Boeing 707-321s at the cost of £1.6m. The airline would use the jets on the new "Affinity Group" charter flights for which BD had applied for the rights to serve 20 destinations across Europe and the US.

The maiden example (G-AYVE) arrived on April 26, 1970. Refitted with 189 economy seats, it was then the largest aircraft to ever land at EMA.

First Flights

On May 28, US President Nixon approved the licences. BD's maiden transatlantic sortie took to the air in early June 1970 from London Stansted (STN) bound for New York (JFK).

However, in February 1972, BD, along with BOAC (BA) and Air India (AI), was accused by the US Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) of illegal charter operations.

Airlines were required to ensure that passengers who travelled on these particular flights were paid-up members for six months of the specific club or organisation that had chartered the aircraft. This, of course, proved incredibly challenging.

Spot checks were frequently conducted on both sides of the Atlantic by the CAB and the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Many flights were subsequently cancelled at short notice, with an empty aircraft sent to pick up stranded passengers. Authorities imposed fines, and inevitably, BD was making a loss on these services.

The CAB then imposed an injunction against the carrier, meaning it would require prior approval before operating any charters. An appeal was held at the Federal District Court in Washington, DC.

Our airline won the case, becoming the first foreign operator to obtain an injunction against the CAB. The CAB fought back and, in spring 1973, fined the airline US$50,000 for carrying "illegal" passengers.

New rules around these charters were subsequently drafted, leading to the rebranding as "Advanced Booking Charters" or "ABC" flights. But BD had found other work for its 707s, leasing the jets to Sudan Airways (SD), and its ABC involvement ended.

Scheduled Stumbling Blocks

Sir Michael Bishop always held the ambition of launching scheduled transatlantic services. But the Bermuda II agreement, signed in July 1977, meant that BD could not enter the market. The agreement between the US and UK governments allowed only Pan Am (PA), TWA (TW) and British Airways (BA) to operate scheduled flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and the United States (US).

In 1996, Bishop reignited the battle and began to set the wheels in motion to access the 17+ million passengers that flew between LHR and the US each year. But before BD could be considered for the routes, a fleet of long-haul jets and facilities to maintain the operation were required.

After initially placing options on a pair of Boeing 767-300ERS and two Airbus A330-200s, BD settled on the latter. It placed a US$1.2m order for four airframes, with options on eight, in February 2000. The airline also spent £11m rebranding to 'bmi', or British Midland International.

Bishop continued lobbying on both sides of the Atlantic, and it looked like progress was being made. The CAA even granted the airline the rights to fly from LHR to New York (JFK), Washington, DC (IAD), Miami (MIA) and Boston (BOS).

However, BA boss Bob Ayling approached then Prime Minister Tony Blair, stating that increased competition would be incredibly damaging to the flag carrier at a time when profits were already being hit. Virgin Atlantic (VS) boss Sir Richard Branson, who had long lobbied against the monopolies in the transatlantic market, also voiced his disapproval of BD entering the market.

Heading North

The negotiations once again failed. Down, but not out, BD applied for the licences to fly from its Manchester (MAN) hub to IAD and ORD.

The first 244-seat A330 (G-WWBM) arrived at MAN on April 27, 2001, in readiness for the inaugural service to IAD on May 12, two weeks later than planned due to the airframe's late delivery. The second (G-WWBD) arrived on May 9 and launched the new ORD route on June 8.

The third (G-WWBB) was not immediately needed and leased out to South African Airways (SA). The fourth airframe would never be operated by BD, going directly to Emirates (EK) instead.

Bishop continued to lobby the US and UK authorities, remaining confident they would 'be able to start transatlantic services from Heathrow' in 2002. But the battle wound on for years. The new open skies agreement would not come into effect until March 30, 2008. By this point, bmi had shifted its focus on building a new mid-haul network from LHR after purchasing British Mediterranean (KJ) in October 2007.

Downturn and Demise

Bishop had always said that transatlantic services from MAN would not be viable without LHR routes. The six-weekly IAD rotation was dropped in October 2005 and replaced by new leisure services to Las Vegas (LAS), Antigua (ANU), St. Lucia (UVF) and Barbados (BGI).

But in November 2008, bmi announced that it would abandon its long-haul operation from MAN altogether.

In a statement, the carrier said, "Services from Manchester have never performed to the levels that we had hoped, and we see little prospect of change or improvements in their performance." The long-haul base closed in April 2008, and bmi retreated to LHR.

Sadly its financial performance never improved. Owners Lufthansa (LH) put the airline up for sale in late 2011. Arch-rival BA took over in March 2012, and on October 27, the bmi name disappeared from the skies forever.

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Featured Image: bmi's hopes of becoming a key player in the transatlantic market never really took off. Photo: Dale Coleman (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2), via Wikimedia Commons