The latest set of industry figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for May 2003 show bmibaby, in contrast to other low cost airlines, is increasing its overall load factors with impressive growth on many routes compared to the same month last year. The figures prove beyond doubt the soar away success of bmibaby.

The percentage of seats sold by bmibaby has increase from 65% in May 2002 to over 71% this year, with a massive increase in seats available from almost 75,000 to nearly 375,000 this year. The number of routes operated by bmibaby has also increased from Just 9 in May 2002 to 38 one year later.

The figures are boosted further, as June statistics confirm that bmibaby is by far the Midlands` biggest airline, with its figures overtaking both British European and British Airways from Birmingham International Airport. Whilst with around 90,000 seats sold in June British European was the largest airline at Birmingham Airport, bmibaby sold more than 170,000 seats at East Midlands Airport, almost twice as many as its West Midlands rival.

bmibaby, now the UK`s second largest low cost carrier, has seen its East Midlands load factors increase by 22 per cent on Belfast, 20 per cent on Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Faro and Amsterdam, 12 per cent on Prague, nine per cent on Nice, eight per cent on Barcelona and seven per cent on Dublin. However, it`s top routes are Edinburgh and Glasgow, which have increased by a massive 24 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, giving bmibaby the highest load factors, of any low cost airline, between the Midlands and Scotland.  In addition, the increased load factors between the East Midlands and Paris and Amsterdam show that bmibaby is again the top low cost operator to those destinations from the Midlands region.

bmibaby`s Malaga service from Cardiff International Airport is outperforming its nearest low cost competition on the same route out of Bristol Airport. The airline has also substantially grown the Paris route out of Cardiff, since it was abandoned by British Airways in March of this year. bmibaby is now the largest scheduled carrier out of Cardiff, which has recently been named by the CAA as the UK`s fastest growing airport.

bmibaby only began operating from its Manchester base in May of this year but is already reporting high load factors on its Belfast (International), Palma and Malaga services. New routes to be introduced from the North West from 1 October are Barcelona and Prague, together with a new daily service between Manchester and Geneva from December 14th.

Tony Davis, managing director, bmibaby, said: “bmibaby continues to go from strength to strength and it`s quite poignant that we`re now bucking the trend of other low cost carriers and are actually increasing our overall load factor whilst adding a significant number of additional seats. The figures are very encouraging. I strongly believe that communities see us as their own local low cost carrier and are responding well to our combination of “Tiny” fares and grown-up comforts.

We have demonstrated our local credentials and continue to support many local community activities and charities. I think this is very important factor in cementing their relationship with bmibaby and helping them make the decision to fly with us.

I am particularly delighted that in just over one year of operations, bmibaby is now the largest airline in the Midlands. This represents a great boost for the airline and an important development for the whole of the East Midlands. It also shows that we have every opportunity to grow our business at East Midlands Airport, providing that we can increase the awareness of both the airport and the region across Europe.

     
“We`re now looking forward to expanding service further from October with the addition of our fourth UK base at Teesside and the addition of new destinations from both our Manchester and Cardiff bases.”

Related stories on ITN:

(28/08/2003) bmibaby.com in Top 3 Most Visited UK Airline Websites

(19/12/2003) bmibaby Fares Available Through Galileo

(19/12/2003) bmibaby Fares Available Through Galileo

——-