Bmi suspends some Heathrow routes

The carrier recently bought by German airline Lufthansa, Bmi, has announced plans to suspend some key routes over the next few months. Flights leaving Heathrow Airport and travelling to Amsterdam, Kiev, Aleppo and Tel Aviv will begin finishing as early as January with Brussels to be the first route that is suspended on the 9th January. This will leave just British Airways offering this direct route and flights to Kiev, which finish the next day. Amsterdam will cease operation later on 27th March and there will be two airlines left, BA and KLM.

Around 4,500 are employed in the UK by the airline and a vast majority are based at Heathrow Airport. This will not come as good news to them as airlines across Europe seem to be cutting back on their workforce. The airline said they are expected to lose about 600 employees as the shake begins at the company. They have not yet confirmed where they wish to cut the jobs and are expected to start negotiations with staff and unions very soon. Bmi the cut backs have come about because of the recession, one of the worst in the history of aviation they believe.

Lufthansa completed the buyout of the airline earlier this year when they bought the final stake in the carrier. However, before this was completed they had signaled their intensions to the industry when they invited interested parties to come and view the financial situation of Bmi. British Airways and Virgin seem the most likely candidates if they were put on the market, if only for their slots that are available at Heathrow.