British Midland, also commonly known as “bmi”, was recently purchased by Lufthansa. With airline consolidation on the rise, this is one event of many in the past year, including:
British Airways — Iberia & Qantas ….. maybe Malaysia
Delta & Northwest
US Airways & America West … & United … not
RyanAir & Aer Lingus ….. maybe
Although airline staff recognizes the need for this, nonetheless, these takeovers affect their livelihood and future work status. As a guest on bmi last month for a trip over to London for World Travel Market, I had the opportunity to experience their U.S. service (which is ending January 14, 2009) into Manchester, U.K. from both Chicago and Las Vegas, and to hear first-hand how this merger is being felt in the air and on the ground.
In speaking with ground crew in the bmi Lounge at Manchester Airport, the 2 ladies who welcomed us were enthusiastic and excited about taking care of customers. Both had worked with bmi for more than 20 years and felt like bmi employees were like one big happy family. They stated that their customers also felt this way when flying with bmi.
The story was similar in the air. The onboard Chef in business class was looking at branching out after the news of the merger. She had worked onboard as bmi Chef for more than 6 years and loved the concept, as did the passengers. But now with the news, she as well as her onboard associates were forced into thinking, what will I do if…..?
They were all quite sad about the merger and were worried about the name going away. Most everyone felt that bmi was so well established in the U.K. that it behooved Lufthansa to retain the name, at least for some time. Customers recognize and appreciate the service that bmi has delivered for so many years.
A brief history:
From humble beginnings nearly 70 years ago, bmi today operates 1,700 flights per week over a network of 36 airports in the UK, Europe, India, Saudi Arabia and transatlantic to the USA and Caribbean. http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-us/about-us/our-history/our-history.aspx
The stockpile of old airline names continues to stack up. Remember these:
TWA, Western, Eastern, PSA, Flying Tigers, Braniff, PSA, Republic, British Caledonian, Overseas, PanAm
Now there’s a future story! I remember when my uncle published the very first book on Trademarks. He had pages and pages of logos and trademarks spread across the dining room table for about a year. He had a stack of old ones and current ones. The old stack was about even with the new one. So, what’s in a name? Memories, for sure.
Report by Frances Kiradjian, Publisher TravelMole USA
