BRITISH MEDITERRANEAN AIRWAYS

'British Mediterranean Airways', trading as 'BMED', is an airline based at London Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. It operates scheduled services as a British Airways franchise operator to 18 destinations in 17 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. From the end of summer 2007, the airline will be operated under the bmi name.
The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.^[1]

History

British Mediterranean Airways was established in 1994 by a group of private investors and began operations on 28 October that year with an Airbus A320, flying from London Heathrow to Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Damascus in Syria and Amman in Jordan were added to the network the following year, and the airline began flying a fortnightly charter service to Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan.
In March 1997 the airline reached an agreement with British Airways, with BA withdrawing its competing services to Beirut, Damascus and Amman, leaving British Mediterranean as the sole operator on a BA franchise basis. Under this agreement the airline trades as British Airways, with all flights operated under BA flight codes (the range BA6500-6669 are allocated to BMED flights). All BMED aircraft are presented in full British Airways livery, appointed with the same interior and class product as the BA main fleet, and staff wear the BA uniform. BMED flights are booked through British Airways and the airline participates in BA's Executive Club and BA Miles programme. BMED is an affiliate member of Oneworld.
With the franchise agreement, British Mediterranean's operations moved from Heathrow's Terminal 3 to Terminal 4, allowing greater integration with the BA network. The airline has greatly benefited from the franchise arrangement, taking over unprofitable BA mainline services better suited to BMED's lower cost base, to destinations such as Baku, Tehran, Addis Ababa and Almaty. British Mediterranean has also launched a number of routes on its own, backed by the global sales and marketing of British Airways, as well as feeder traffic to and from Heathrow.
British Mediterranean Airways rebranded as BMED in November 2004, stating that the shorter name and revamped logo would help strengthen the airline's image.
In 2004 BMED carried 277,000 passengers on its 6 aircraft, to 16 destinations in 15 countries.
In January 2007 BMED was bought by UK Airline bmi. The decision by bmi marks a change in strategy with the airline now focusing on more medium to long haul routes. BMED routes will work along side bmi's current medium haul routes from London Heathrow. The British Airways franchise will be stopped at the end of the summer timetable of 2007, when the airline will be fully absorbed into bmi branding. All the existing BMED planes will re-painted in bmi livery and the staff will wear bmi uniforms, and the flight numbers will carry bmi's standard BD prefix. However, they will also continue to use BA code-share designation.
As part of the deal to buy BMED, BMI sold the BMED Heathrow slots to British Airways for £30 Million. These are due to pass to British Airways in late 2008/2009.
On March 12, 2007, it was revealed that the airline was flying a "ghost flight" between London Heathrow and Cardiff Airport 6 times a week. No seats are sold for the flight, and it is not announced in arrivals or departures, or on airport information screens. The flight is only made in order for BMED to retain a valuable take-off slot at London Heathrow, unused since it scrapped flights to Uzbekistan. Airlines with landing rights at London Heathrow are liable to lose them if they do not make at least 80% use of their allocation over a six-month session. ^[2]
On April 5, 2007, G-MEDL was used to return 15 British Navy personnel captured by Iranian forces from Tehran to London Heathrow.

Destinations

BMED serves the following destinations (as of July 2007):

Fleet

The BMED fleet consists of the following aircraft (at March 2007)^[3]:

★ 3 Airbus A320-200 consisting of: G-MEDE, G-MEDH, G-MEDK.

★ 5 Airbus A321-200 consisting of: G-MEDF G-MEDG G-MEDJ G-MEDL G-MEDM (Further 5 on order)

Notes

1. Type A Operating Licence Holders
2. BBC News- Green anger at 'ghost flights'
3. Directory: World Airlines

External links

★ BMED Website

★ BMED Inflight Magazine

★ BMED Fleet Detail

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BRITISH MEDITERRANEAN AIRWAYS

History

Destinations

Africa

Middle East

Caucasus/Central Asia

Europe/Russia

Fleet

Notes

External links

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