RIYADH, 12 March 2006 — The United Kingdom’s second largest carrier, bmi, will commence a three-times-per-week service to and from Jeddah starting May 19, said Adrian Parkes, bmi’s commercial director.
“The introduction of a direct link from Heathrow Airport to Jeddah follows the successful launch in September of a three times weekly service to the Saudi capital,” said Parkes, who wrapped up his week-long visit to the Kingdom recently. “We were very pleased with the excellent support we got from our customers traveling between Riyadh and London.”
During his trip to the Kingdom, the commercial director was accompanied by top bmi officials, including Max Hunt, general manager for sales & marketing; Ravi Pikle, commercial development manager for Middle East and India; and Shahid Fareed, sales manager for Saudi Arabia.
Referring to the success of bmi’s operation in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, he said “the addition of Jeddah means that the bmi would be the only UK airline providing key direct links from Britain to both of the Kingdom’s administrative and commercial centers.” The new destination will offer bmi’s full in-flight service for customers, including an onboard chef for business class, said the bmi’s commercial chief.
He said that this UK’s airline had been extremely encouraged since the beginning of its operation on Heathrow-Riyadh route. Parkes said that the bmi’s wide-bodied aircraft were luxuriously equipped with 24-42 seats in the business class configuration.
“There is also a choice of English and Arabic music in addition to Arabic entertainment channels,” said the bmi official.
“We are also introducing frequent flier program from this month for our valued customers, who can travel to various destinations at highly competitive rates despite the escalating airfares”, he observed. “I am confident that, as with Riyadh, we will again benefit from the support and encouragement of both the UK and Saudi governments in making our new service to Jeddah another success story,” said Parkes.
The airline will also commence a daily service to Doha from Heathrow in the summer this year. The service will be subject to government approval and it will be operated under a wet lease agreement with Qatar Airways. At the same time, bmi’s existing code share agreement with Qatar Airways will be expanded to allow bmi to sell Qatar Airways flights from Heathrow to Doha under bmi’s flight code.
This will further consolidate the presence of bmi at both Heathrow and in the Gulf region and mark another major step in the global reach of the airline services and its long haul network. This airline is the UK’s second largest airline and it holds 12 percent of all take off and landing slots at London Heathrow. The bmi operates 1,700 flights a week. It has a fleet of 42 jet aircraft, which have an average age of five years.