CAA figures for the period January - August 2002 prove that bmi, the UK`s second largest full service scheduled airline, is leaving the competition behind when it comes to on time departures.

bmi was consistently more punctual at London Heathrow (LHR) throughout the first eight months of this year than competitor airlines, including British Airways.

Routes from LHR to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Glasgow, Madrid and Nice are the most improved for bmi for on time departures, however, the airline is also pleased to have outperformed the competition from LHR on a large number of routes including; Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Milan (Linate) and Manchester. The overall average delay has been cut by two minutes with 79 per cent of all flights taking off on time or within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time.

Low cost airlines operating similar routes from other London airports have also performed poorly against bmi figures. For instance, 77 per cent of bmi`s flights depart on time compared to Easyjet`s 66 per cent on similar routes. Average delays on low cost airlines range from 14 -19 minutes compared to just 12 minutes with bmi, dispelling the myth that alternative London airports offer more punctual flight departures than Heathrow. 

Austin Reid, chief executive officer for bmi commented:
“A major objective for any airline is on time departures and reliability and we are pleased to be significantly improving this at bmi. Our flights from London Heathrow have consistently improved in punctuality and we are now performing better than our closest competition from the full service sector and comparable airlines in the low cost sector.

“The latest CAA figures prove that statistically you are less likely to be delayed when travelling with bmi and that`s a great motive for booking. Getting an aircraft off the ground on time is a team effort and bmi staff should be praised for their continued improved efficiency.”

bmi helps speed up the airport part of the pre-departure journey for business travellers by offering a return check-in facility, enabling passengers to check-in for their return journey at their outbound departure airport. A telephone check-in facility is also available for business travellers and diamond club gold and silver customers travelling from the UK with hand baggage only. More recently bmi introduced e-tickets to a large part of its route network, putting an end to the need for paper tickets, and waiting at ticket desks for ticket collection.

*the figures quoted in the release are from published CAA data.

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