BMI to drop Washington

BMI are to drop Washington....

Washington and St Lucia cancellations 27.07.05

'After a review of the performance of our longhaul services bmi have
decided to make some changes to the winter schedule.

Reluctantly bmi will suspend the Manchester - Washington service
from the end of the summer. BMI will also be refining the Caribbean
services over the hurricane season therefore the Manchester - St
Lucia service will be suspended for 7 weeks from the end of August
and re-start 24 October 2005.

Well what a surprise!!!!

The beginning of the end came when they dumped the A330 for a second-rate B757 on that route?'

Quote from MAN airport chat site
[msnwink][msnwink][msnwink]

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

Hmmm - no wonder the service is not booking well at the moment as who wants to travel that distance on a B757. We've used the route when it was a A330 a few times in the past and it was always very busy then.

Wel you know my view of the 757 being used for longhaul[msnwink]

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

Certainly do!

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Mach 2
Wel you know my view of the 757 being used for longhaul[msnwink]
[/quote]

[Paula D-S]

You know how my flight went Lucy

One thing to say

<span style="color:red">HOORAY</span id="red">

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
Certainly do!

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Mach 2
Wel you know my view of the 757 being used for longhaul[msnwink]
[/quote]
[/quote]

Is it that obvious[msnwink][msnwink][msnwink]

[Katys Grandad]

Is the fact that they are using the word 'suspend' and refer to the 'winter schedule' significant? If it was ending completely wouldn't they say so more explicitly?

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

LOL - a bit more obvious than I was letting on to be truthful [msnwink]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Mach 2
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
Certainly do!

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Mach 2
Wel you know my view of the 757 being used for longhaul[msnwink]
[/quote]
[/quote]

Is it that obvious[msnwink][msnwink][msnwink]
[/quote]

[Katys Grandad]

Lucy

How would you define 'long haul'? I don't necessarily disagree with your views on 757's but some of these transatlntic crossings aren't much longer than a trip to the Canaries or the Eastern Med. 757's and even smaller aircraft (MD80's for example) are used consistently for virtually trans-continental US flights.

It is ironic that on the same day BMI appear to withdraw a transatlantic 757 service, American introduce another from Newcastle. American are making money from their MAN-BOS 757 service and have recently extended its seasonal service so it is clear that not everybody dislikes it. In contrast, it struggles to maintain its 763 MAN-MIA service.

Whatever the pros and cons of the BMI Washington service might be I just can't see the withdrawal of any transatlantic route from Manchester as good news and certainly not cause for celebration. If people don't want to use the service then that's up to them but there will be many people who for their own reasons will be sorry to see another provincial transtlantic option disappear.

The eastern med is around 4 hours Cyprus and Athens are 2 of the routes I used to operate and both were not at all great on a 757 but put a 767 on the same route and it was and passengers got off happy[msnsmile2]

I personally don't think the Washington was at risk until BMI removed the Airbus which they needed for the other new outes from Heathrow.

I did not say it was 'good news'???

I actually think they should have left well alone and the introduction of the 757 was a turning point in the passenger confidence and numbers. Just my view[msnwink]

[Katys Grandad]

I sorry if you think I was inferring that you said it was good news Lucy. That wasn't what I was saying.

Don't you agree that the reality is that BMI made this decsion months ago and withdrew the A330 to a route they intended to retain and leased another aircraft (until October!!) purely to transport passengers who had already booked through the summer months? All the evidence suggests that from that point they didn't put too much effort into the service. My son flew with them on the 757 in May and said he wouldn't use them again.