JEDDAH: Nigel Turner, BMI’s CEO, paid a flying visit to Jeddah yesterday to address the concerns of, and gather feedback from, local travelers on the airline’s performance over the last year or so.
In December 2008 the annual Haj traffic from the UK coincided with the end of year school break and a surge in expatriate bookings for travel to the UK. This caused considerable concern and difficulty among potential travelers to the UK. Economy class bookings were in limited supply due to block bookings for much of the peak period by Masterfare, BMI’s agent.
Turner met with British Business Group where he presented the airline’s current status ahead of the imminent purchase of Chairman Sir Michael Bishop’s 50 percent (plus one share) holding by Lufthansa and the return at the end of March of British Airways to the Saudi Arabia to Heathrow routes. The German carrier was already BMI’s second-largest shareholder, with a stake of 30 percent (minus one share). Scandinavian Airlines hold the remaining 20 percent. According to Turner, BMI operates a total of 71 aircraft and in 2007 it recorded $2.1 billion turnover and carried over 10.5 million passengers. The deal is set to be completed by Jan. 16.
Turner used the opportunity to unveil BMI’s new service for business class travelers — a free chauffeur driven limousine to transport flyers within a 50-mile radius (75 km) of the airport to and from the airport. This he said would make lapsed traveling time between Jeddah and London comparable to a direct flight from Jeddah despite the airline’s routing through Riyadh; the facility did not, he continued, apply to economy class passengers. The three Saudi Arabian destinations — Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam — will be the first to benefit from the service. “What prompts things is that you just have to offer more and more to the customer. The non-direct flights are not ideal although there is only a couple of hours in it.”
He told the audience that the airline’s current dog-leg through Riyadh was due to their being no more available landing slots at Heathrow. In an exclusive interview he added; “Ideally we would like to fly here six times a week, but the market isn’t quite ready for it yet and it would not justify my throwing another route off.”
He noted that the opening of the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow would shift some 8 million passengers a year from Terminal 1 which, along with other Star Alliance airline members, will be the home of BMI. To attract business class passengers, the check-in time has been reduced to 30 minutes — including the sometimes arduous transit through security procedures. “My experience of Terminal 1 security is very positive. We would not offer that if we could not do it.”
“If you arrive 31 minutes before the flight, we will get you on the plane,” Philip Hedges, BMI’s marketing manager for the Middle East told Arab News. He added that all flights to and from Middle East destinations featured Halal catering.
Turner said that for economy class passengers, no changes were scheduled.
