BMI, the UK's second largest full-service scheduled airline, and its low-cost subsidiary bmibaby, carried 7.8m passengers in 2002, up 11% on the previous year. Load factors also showed steady gains rising four points to 64%. Much of the growth came in the second half of 2002, as travellers returned to the air following the tragic events of 11 September 2001. Passenger volumes and load factors on bmi services were also stimulated by the introduction of a low-cost style one-way fare structure in June 2002, which scrapped minimum stay requirements such as the restrictive 'Saturday night stopover'. Domestic services, in particular, benefited dramatically, with routes where there is strong competition from low-cost carriers performing exceptionally well. Transatlantic services from Manchester to Chicago, launched in summer 2001, made remarkable gains during 2002, with the load factor rising by 16% to 73%. http://www.flybmi.com