I have from time to time invited other contributors to post some of their work on my blog. My son Andrew and his wife Joy for example contributed images of the buses in Edinburgh last year.
My former colleague and friend Mr. John Beastall has agreed to contribute this article about 'bmibaby' for which I thank him.
bmibaby was a low cost carrier (LCC) with its main operating base at East Midlands Airport (EMA) near Castle Donington, Derbyshire. It was a subsidiary company of British Midland and operated its first flight from EMA to Malaga on 22nd March 2002.
British Midland, in turn could trace its history back to Derby Airways and previously, from 1938, as Air Schools Ltd; operating from Burnaston (now the site of the Toyota factory) and Wolverhampton. When the EMA opened for business in April 1965, British Midland (the former Derby Airways) moved to the new airport, providing the majority of the passenger services available at the time with a fleet of Douglas Dakota, Canadair Argonaut and Handley Page Herald aircraft. This set the scene for a long relationship between airport and airline.
bmibaby was born in January 2002 to bring low cost air travel to the East Midlands, initially on holiday routes to the Mediterranean and Portugal. Also to compete with then British Airways owned LCC Go Fly, which, based at Stansted Airport in Essex, had decided to open a base at EMA in April 2002, using a fleet of Boeing 737-300's. Go Fly was eventually purchased by Easyjet and re-branded accordingly.
British Midland operated a large fleet of Boeing 737's, a mix of 300/400/500 series aircraft, mainly operating out of Heathrow Airport, London. The 737 was the preferred LCC aircraft at that time and three 300 series where transferred to bmibaby for start-up, G-ECAS, G-OBMP and G-OJTW.
During the first summer of bmibaby operations, British Midland, which was a full fare airline, continued to operate the domestic and international business traffic routes out of EMA. By May 2003 the bmibaby fleet stood at five series 300 and eight series 500 aircraft. This resulted in most scheduled services out of EMA being operated by bmibaby for the first time. New bases also came online at Cardiff (10/2002 - 2011), Manchester(5/2003 - 2011) and Durham – Tees Valley (10/2003 to 2006), Birmingham (1/2005 to closure) and Belfast (3/2012 to 6/2012).
British Midland had expanded into becoming the second largest operator out of London Heathrow Airport and later being known as BMI (British Midland International). BMI Regional (BMR), based at Aberdeen Airport, was formed to operate the lower density routes and feeder services using Embraer RJ-145 (49 seat) and RJ-135 (37 seat) regional Jets.
Various changes to the ownership of British Midland occurred over the years until eventually, in 2009, it became wholly owned by Lufthansa – the German Airline Group. In April 2012, Lufthansa sold British Midland to International Airlines Group (IAG), which is the parent of British Airways and Iberia Airlines of Spain. British Midlands' operations were to be merged into British Airways operations by 27th October 2012. However, bmibaby and BMR were to be sold or closed down.
BMR was purchased by Sector Aviation Holdings Ltd and continues to operate today, maintaining the route, amongst others, from EMA to Brussels. Sadly a buyer was not found for bmibaby and it was announced in May 2012 that a number of flights would cease operating on June 11th with all remaining services ceasing in September 2012.
On the 9th September 2012, bmibaby operated their final services from East Midlands and Birmingham Airports, prior to the closure of the airline. During the ten years of operation a total of 28 Boeing 737's (20 x 300, 8 x 500) were operated by bmibaby, from bases at EMA, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Belfast and Durham – Tees Valley. Here we look at what became of the fourteen Boeing 737 aircraft that bmibaby operated at that time from EMA and Birmingham.
Two series 500 aircraft (G-BVKB, G-BVZE) and twelve series 300 aircraft (G-OBMP, G-ODSK, G-OGBD, G-TOYD, G-TOYF, G-TOYG, G-TOYH, G-TOYI, G-TOYJ, G-TOYK, G-TOYL, G-TOYM) were in the fleet.
For the final day of operations 'SK, 'YD, 'YH, 'YI where based at Birmingham with the rest of the fleet at East Midlands. 'KB was standby aircraft and 'MP operated the last flight for bmibaby (ww5330) arriving at East Midlands from Malaga at 22.48 using radio call sign 'Baby 28V'. The aircraft received a traditional water canon salute from the airport Fire Department as it taxied onto the apron. A fitting tribute to the longest serving 737 within the group and the same aircraft that operated the first flight for bmibaby to Malaga 10 years earlier, reportedly with the same flight deck crew.
Monday 10th September saw the entire fleet flown into storage at Norwich Airport, Norfolk and Lasham Airfield in Hampshire, prior to return to their lessors. 'KB, 'ZE, 'MP, 'SK, 'YD, 'YH, 'YI, 'YL where flown to Norwich, with 'BD, 'YF, 'YG, 'YJ, 'YK, 'YM being flown to Lasham. All aircraft remained in storage for the rest of 2012.
OGBD was the first to fly again when it positioned from Lasham to Kemble Airfield, Gloucestershire on 14/02/2013. To date it has resided at the Cotswold airport. Registered to Southern Aircraft Consultancy Inc as N4973S on 11/09/2013.
TOYM was next to find a new home when it was delivered to Jet2 on 16/05/2013 as G-GDFT.
BVKB flew out of Norwich on 23/05/2013 devoid of bmibaby titles and tail logo – destination was Bruntingthorpe Airfield, Leicestershire reportedly for scrapping. The registration was cancelled on 19/07/2013.
TOYJ was reportedly to join 'YM at Jet2 as G-GDFS, however became YR-BBA when delivered to Carpatair of Romania on 25/07/2013.
BVZE was painted all white and departed for France on 22/08/2013 to join Air Mediterranee as F-HCOB. The aircraft regularly flies between Paris CDG and airports in North Africa.
TOYL climbed away from Norwich, still in full bmibaby livery, on 09/10/2013 bound for Canada and a future life with Canadian North Airlines of Yellowknife registered as C-GKFP.
OBMP was registered to KLM UK Engineering Ltd on 22/10/2013 and remains at Norwich with some parts removed. With some 60,000 hours to its credit it is presumed that it will not fly again. 'MP had served with British Midland / BMI / bmibaby since delivered new from Boeing on 10/01/1992!
TOYF and TOYH are both pending delivery to Nigerian start up airline Azman Air. They have been registered 5N-YSM, and 5N-HAI respectively. Both where still present at Bournemouth in January 2014.
TOYK has been prepared for Discovery Air of Nigeria and was re-registered to Aergo Trading Ltd on 03/09/2013. It should become 5N-BQP on delivery.
ODSK has languished at Norwich throughout 2013 undergoing extensive maintenance. Re-registered to Aergo Capital Ltd on 23/12/2013 it is reported that 'SK will join 'YK with Discovery Airlines of Nigeria as 5N-BQN.
TOYG remains at Lasham, with TOYD and TOYI at Norwich. It remains to be seen what fate has in store for these aircraft.
Complete list of Boeing 737 registrations that bmibaby operated – all prefixed G-. Series 500 BVKA , BVKB, BVKC, BVKD, BVZE, BVZG, BVZH, BVZI.
Series 300 BYZJ, ECAS, OBMP, ODSK, OGBD, OGBE, OJTW, TOYA, TOYB, TOYC, TOYD, TOYE, TOYF, TOYG, TOYH, TOYI, TOYJ, TOYK, TOYL, TOYM.
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