09/09/2012: Bmibaby's Ten-Year Run Ends Under IAG Ownership

DALLAS — Today, in 2012, British low-cost carrier Bmibaby (WW) flew for the last time, closing a decade of operations built around its base at East Midlands Airport (EMA). ITV News Central reported that morning that the airline would stop flying that weekend, and photographed the goodbye message posted at the airport.

Business Traveller, reporting the shutdown the following day, recorded that Bmibaby had launched in early 2002 with flights between East Midlands and Málaga (AGP), and that further bases followed at Cardiff (CWL), Durham Tees Valley, Manchester (MAN), Birmingham (BHX) and George Best Belfast City (BHD). Airline History dates the company's founding to January 24, 2002 and its first service to that March.

Parent British Midland International (BD) had built the airline to answer the low-cost carriers taking European short-haul traffic, a competitive problem that turns on structural differences in how the two airline models carry cost. Bmibaby's fleet wore "bmibaby.com" titles and a cartoon infant on the tail.

Bmibaby Boeing 737-500 G-BVZE in the carrier's cartoon-infant livery — Bmibaby Boeing 737-500 G-BVZE on December 19, 2009. Photo: Maarten Visser from Capelle aan den IJssel, Nederland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cutting Back

FlightGlobal reported on November 4, 2009 that Bmibaby would make 158 staff redundant and scale its fleet down from 17 aircraft to 12 in a restructuring program.

The network contracted next. From January 10, 2011, the airline moved its Belfast flying from Belfast International to George Best Belfast City, serving it from Manchester, East Midlands, Birmingham and Cardiff with up to 48 flights a week. Three months later FlightGlobal reported that Bmibaby would pull out of its Cardiff and Manchester bases altogether and put more services into Belfast City. CAPA reported that all Cardiff and Manchester operations would end with the summer 2011 schedule and that four aircraft would be redeployed to Belfast, East Midlands and Birmingham. The airline was then operating 40 weekly services from Manchester and 30 from Cardiff to European destinations.

Sold, Then Grounded

The decision that ended the airline was made above it. International Airlines Group bought BD and its subsidiaries from Lufthansa in April 2012, and had said throughout that it would ground the low-cost arm if no buyer came forward. Business Traveller reported that it had originally been hoped Bmibaby would sell as a going concern, with several groups entering discussions, but that IAG concluded in May that it would close the carrier instead, with all flights ending by September 9.

The cuts began the following month. The Independent reported that the first tranche of route closures fell over the weekend of June 9 and 10, ending all services at Belfast City apart from parent BD's Heathrow link and many from East Midlands, with Nice, Alicante, Faro and Málaga among the destinations affected. The Birmingham links to Knock and Amsterdam went the same weekend, and Northern Ireland lost its Bmibaby connections to Amsterdam, Birmingham, East Midlands and Stansted. More than 500 jobs were at risk, and the airline attributed the decision to close the Belfast base to "commercial and operational challenges."

Bmibaby flew Boeing 737s, starting on the -300 according to Airline History and later operating the -500 as well.

The airline posted its own farewell at bmibaby.com, in the voice it had used for a decade. "Been nice knowing you, baby!" it began. "On September 9, 2012 Bmibaby flew its last ever flight. Thanks to everyone who has flown with us over the years. It's been so much fun, baby!"