bmi Adds Capacity to Heathrow-Aberdeen Route

British Midland International (bmi) has announced plans to add capacity to their London Heathrow-Aberdeen route by 90%. The carrier operates 6 flights on the route every day with Embarer regional planes, but they are set to replace some of them with Airbus A319 planes, which can carry an average 140 passengers.

The plan will commence on August 1 and will affect flights from London leaving at 7am, 5:45pm and 8pm, as well as flights leaving Aberdeen at 7:40am, 10:10am and 8pm. The airline says that this will add almost 3,000 more seats on the route per week.

Currently, bmi offers a single cabin service on this route, which features seating for Flexible Economy and Economy. Those who fly Flexible Economy are given access to lounges on both ends of the route, complimentary food and drink, as well as separate seating at the front of the aircraft.

Katherine Gershon, bmi sales and marketing director, says that the airline is strongly committed to the growth of Heathrow-Aberdeen. Adding these seats will help them meet demand from both business and leisure travelers, she continued, explaining that that many of their customers want the flexibility of flying with them to Heathrow and then connecting to other destinations served by their network, and these changes will make doing that much easier. She added that they have also seen more demand for their American codeshare flights since Continental Airlines joined the Star Alliance.

bmi rivals other airlines on London-Aberdeen services, which include British Airways from Heathrow, easyJet from Luton and Flybe from Gatwick. The carrier also recently announced new flights from Heathrow to Berlin, which operate 5 times a day, and Vienna, which operate 2 times daily.