bmi regional has announced a major expansion programme for summer 2007.The full service, all-jet, regional carrier will start taking delivery
of a further four Embraer 145 aircraft early in 2007. This will take the
total fleet up to 20 aircraft.

The new aircraft will be used to support an expansion programme that
will see bmi regional launch daily flights from Edinburgh to Zurich. The
service will establish new links between the Scottish capital and the
major Swiss business and finance centre. 

Additionally, Scottish travellers will benefit from a new daily service
establishing a direct link between Aberdeen and the Norwegian city of
Kristiansand.

New links will also be created from Leeds Bradford airport when bmi
regional launches a daily service to the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

Extra services are to be introduced to meet the continuing demand for
bmi regional flights between Scotland and Manchester and Leeds Bradford.
An additional return flight between Edinburgh and Manchester will take
weekday services up to seven a day. Revised timings between Edinburgh
and Leeds Bradford will create a new much-requested early morning
service, departing the Scottish capital at 0705 and arriving in Leeds
Bradford at 0805. 

Stewart Adams, managing director of Aberdeen-based bmi regional, said:
“We continue to expand our network of full-service, non-stop flights
between Scotland and key destinations in the UK and Europe. The creation
of new links between Edinburgh and Zurich will bring the businesses of
these two cities and their communities much closer and doing business
will be far easier. We expect the new bmi regional service from Aberdeen
to Kristiansand, the key Norwegian centre for oil and gas engineering,
to be a popular addition to the network. We are also pleased to confirm
a new service that will establish the only direct air links between
Leeds Bradford and Copenhagen.

“We know passengers prefer jets to turbo-propeller aircraft for
reliability and speed. As an all-jet operator we therefore have a unique
position over our regional competitors. This gives us the confidence to
increase our fleet size to serve some exciting new destinations as well
as meet the demand for additional services on some of our more
established routes. This is good news as the growth is likely to create
more employment opportunities within the airline as well as within the
communities we serve.”
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