BMI cites woes at Aer Lingus for possible review

BMI British Midland may review its Republic of Ireland schedules in light of uncertainty surrounding the future of Aer Lingus, its chairman has said.

Sir Michael Bishop believes the airline may look at developing its operation in the Republic, depending on the future outlook for Aer Lingus. Sir Michael said he believed the Republic was a strong market for BMI and could offer new opportunities for route development.

Currently, the airline only flies direct from Dublin Airport to London Heathrow and East Midlands in Britain.

BMI is one of the largest airlines operating from Northern Ireland. Sir Michael expects it will develop its business following British Airway's decision to pull out of its London Heathrow routes. "Belfast was over-served before and there was bound to be some attrition in the marketplace because Northern Ireland has a very small population," he said.

"We have the largest market share in the North and we fully intend to aggressively hold on to that and indeed grow our business this year," Sir Michael added.

He said there were no plans to reduce further the frequency of routes from the North, although the airline would constantly review the situation.

Earlier this week, BMI transferred its operating base and the majority of its services from Belfast International Airport to Belfast City Airport.

British Airways also axed its six daily services between Belfast International and London Heathrow airports and closed its operating base in Belfast last week.

TBI plc, the owners of Belfast International Airport, is in discussions with several airlines about replacing the BMI and British Airway services from the International Airport. One of these airlines, the low-cost operator Go, has announced it will increase its services between Belfast and London to six return weekday flights a day between Belfast and Stansted, and a further four at weekends.

The airline said British Airways' decision to withdraw its London service had increased demand for low-cost flights.

EasyJet is also understood to be in discussions with TBI with a view to increasing its services from Belfast to destinations in the UK and Europe. It is believed the airline is close to securing a deal to introduce the first direct flight between Belfast and Paris.

Although TBI has cornered the low-cost operator market in the North, it has not yet reached an agreement with one of the largest in the sector, Ryanair, according to industry sources.

It is understood that the Irish no-frills airline sees strong potential in the Northern Ireland market but industry sources say "no deal" is on the table.