bmibaby, founded in 2002 as the budget division of the international carrier, is ramping up its operations out of Birmingham for 2007. The airline will have eight Boeing 737 aircraft based at the airport for summer 2007, offering over 350 weekly flights to and from the region.
Four new routes are planned for next year. Barcelona and Rome (Fiumicino) are daily, whilst Lisbon and Marseille Provence are targeted four time weekly. These destinations plus the recently introduced services to Aberdeen, Glasgow, Faro and Murcia take the total number of destinations served by the airline at Birmingham International Airport to 20.
The second part of the expansion plan sees a significant ramping up of frequencies on key Mediterranean routes to meet increasing consumer demand. bmibaby will now offer 12 flights per week to Malaga, a 50% increase in weekly flights versus last summer, and eight flights a week to Alicante. The airline also offers daily flights to Palma and Nice.
The third initiative is an increase of daily flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow by up to 50% in head-to-head competition with Flybe, assuming that airline”s take-over of BA Connect goes ahead. Edinburgh goes to four flights a day during the week and Glasgow is increased to three flights Monday to Friday.