BMI's baby trading ahead of target
Wednesday, 24 April 2002Britain's second largest airline, BMI British Midland, says its new low-cost subsidiary bmibaby has made an encouraging start and is trading well ahead of budget.
The company said bmibaby, which first flew in late March, was on course to carry 500,000 passengers in its first nine months to the end of December, and 1.5 million passengers in 2003.
But bmi chairman and founder Michael Bishop also said in a statement that general trading continued to be extremely challenging and he did not expect a recovery until next year.
Conventional airlines have been hit hard by the ongoing global economic slowdown and the slump in demand for air travel after the September 11 attacks on the US.
Bmi, posting results for 2001, said it carried 5.2% fewer passengers last year, or 6.7 million in total, 'as a direct consequence of September 11'. That cost bmi £35m sterling in lost revenues and led to a £12m operating loss.
But the sale of its handling division led to a 51% rise to £12.4m pre-tax profit after exceptional items, on turnover up 2.4% to £757m.
