Netherlands based carrier Transavia is to resurrect air links between London and Rotterdam a year after it suspended operations on the route.
The Air France – KLM subsidiary is to launch a twice-daily service between the two cities from the end of October ’08. However, the previous route flew into Stanstead and the new route will instead fly into London Luton.
Lufthansa will soon have significantly more control of flights from Heathrow than any other airline apart from British Airways. This is thanks to the proposed take over of BMI.
Lufthansa are set to purchase 50% of shares in BMI after BMI Chairman Sir Michael Bishop instigated a forced purchase after a long-standing agreement with the German airline.
Lufthansa was already BMI’s biggest shareholders with 30% of shares owned.
Reports suggest the deal, which should go through in January ’09 will cost the German firm around £315 million.
There has been speculation that parts of the BMI business will be sold off.
But Lufthansa refused to comment on Virgin Atlantic’s suggestion that that BMI and Virgin combine their short-haul and long-haul networks. According to European VP Karsten Benz “There would be no job cuts at BMI for the time being”, saying Lufthansa had successfully integrated Swiss Airlines into the business and was confident of doing the same with BMI.
Industry observers say the Lufthansa-BMI deal considerably bolsters the German carrier’s position at Heathrow, where BA is planning to form an alliance with American Airlines.
BMI Facts and Figures
BMI flew 10.6 million passengers last year and operates 54 aircraft.
It controls 11% of landing and take-off slots at Heathrow.
Its two main hubs are Heathrow and Manchester, but it also operates from 13 other UK airports.
The remaining 20% of BMI is currently owned by Sweden-based Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).
In Flight News