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Bmi to lease B757s for mid-haul expansion
Bmi is to lease two Boeing 757-200 aircraft to further expand its mid-haul network from Heathrow.
The aircraft will be used to increase capacity and improve schedules to the existing destinations of Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
They will alsohelp the airline increase capacity on its new Heathrow to Tel Aviv service, starting on March 13. This will initially be operated on an Airbus A320, but will upgrade to 757 shortly after the route is launched.
From May 1, non-stop links from Heathrow to both Almaty in and Freetown will be introduced.
This will reduce flying times to Almaty by two hours each way, while journey times to Freetown will be reduced by over an hour and a half.
Bmi is also adding an extra flight to Freetown, taking the schedule to four flights a week.
Bishkek, previously operated via Yerevan, will now operate on the larger B757 and will fly via Almaty, reducing the onward flight time.
The introduction of the two 757s will also allow bmi to increase capacity to existing Airbus A321 operations.
Services from Heathrow to Ekaterinburg and Yerevan will now not operate to destinations beyond, increasing their point to point capacity and improving flight schedules.
A daily schedule between Heathrow and Tehran will also be introduced.
But the changes will result in the suspension of services between Heathrow and Dakar.
Chief executive officer Nigel Turner said: “The delivery of suitable Airbus A330 aircraft is a little way off and we do not want to delay the range of service enhancements unveiled today.
“By leasing the two Boeing 757s, pending the sourcing of suitable A330 aircraft, we are able to accelerate our Heathrow growth and ensure that we can maintain the momentum of our mid haul route strategy, laying strong foundations for future developments in this important market.”
By Bev Fearis
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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