Bmi regional will increase capacity across its network by 16% in summer 2015, announced yesterday. The carrier revealed it was going to add 60,000 more seats to meet demand for scheduled services across the UK and mainland Europe.
Frequency increases on key routes, including an extra daily service between Aberdeen and Bristol, would deliver an extra 10,000 seats per month from March 29th in a “new phase of growth”. The airline said “Cities including Aberdeen, Bristol, Brussels, Frankfurt and Munich will benefit from the enhanced connectivity created through the move to triple daily flights and add weekend services.
Flights from Newcastle and East Midlands to Brussels will increase to three times daily, Monday to Friday. Bristol to Frankfurt will also operate three times daily, while the Bristol-Aberdeen route will also have three daily flights. Other changes will see the introduction of new weekend services from Bristol to Frankfurt and Munich. Bmi regional chief executive Cathal O’Connell said: “Increasing our frequency and providing new services will contribute to an exciting period of growth for the airline.
“Our investment in 16% new scheduled capacity will increase the number of worldwide connections we offer with our partners, Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines, to provide additional flexibility and choice to our customers.”
Bmi regional’s operations and engineering departments are based in Aberdeen, from where the carrier operates scheduled services to destinations including Bristol, Manchester, Norwich, Esbjerg in Denmark and Oslo in Norway. The airline said it created nearly 100 new jobs in 2013, mainly at its main UK crew bases in Aberdeen and Bristol. According to bmi regional, which employs more than 400 people, its planes carried nearly 500,000 passengers and flew in excess of 6 million miles across its network last year.