BRITISH MIDLAND

BMI British Midland as we know it today began in 1938 as Air Schools Ltd and was based in Burnaston, Derby in England. They specialised in flying instruction for Royal Air Force pilots. After World War 2, Air Schools Ltd diversifies to form Derby Aviation and offers ad-hoc passenger and cargo charters, maintenance and aircraft brokerage. In 1953 Derby Aviation ceases their Royal Air Force flight training. 1956 saw Derby Aviation began their first international route with flights to Ostend in Holland. Another name change was on the cards when, in 1959 Derby Aviation became Derby Airways and begans operating inclusive tour holidays abroad, as well as expanding it's domestic network to 15 cities in the United Kingdom.

Fokker F70 (G-BVTG)

In 1964, Derby Airways became a pioneer in the package holiday industry. The same year saw it become British Midland Airways. With a booming charter market in 1970, BMA has become a major player with flights operating to the USA and other long-haul destinations. 1972 saw BMA withdraw from the holiday tour market and the fleet is consolidated to become an 'instant airline', which provides fully liveried aircraft, with crew and ground staff to countries wanting to operate their own fledgling national airlines. In 1979 the 'instant airline' concept proves so successful the airline is awarded the Queens Award to Industry, for it's export achievments. Passenger numbers top one million and BMA applies for licences to operate in direct competition with British Airways on routes from London Heathrow to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast. Another name change was on the cards when, in 1985 BMA became British Midland and a new corporate identitiy was launched, with the airline unveiling a stylish red, white and blue livery. 1990 saw the airline win the Best Domestic Airline in the Silver Globe Awards for the first time.

Airbus A330

British Midland became the first airline to offer an internet flight reservation service when it launches Cyberseat in 1985. A record pre-tax profit of £7.1m was announced for 1996 and an order with Airbus Industrie for 22 new aircraft, worth more than $1 billion was announced in 1997. In April of 1998, British Midland announced record pre-tax profits of £17.3m ($28.5m) on a turnover of £530m ($874.5m).A few months later the airline announced it planned to return to the US market after applying to the CAA for licences to serve four destinations from Manchester. January 2000 saw British Midland sell 20% of itself to Lufthansa. The shares are being bought from Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS), which owns 40%, the sale is conditional on acceptance into the Star Alliance and necessary conditional consent. March 2000 sees British Midland announce it will be the first airline to fly pets under the Pets Travel Scheme into the UK. In June 200 an official announcement is made that British Midland will join the Star Alliance at the beginning of July and an aircraft is painted in the Star Alliances' colour scheme. The Spring of 2001 sees British Midland become BMI British Midland, it also takes delivery of it's first two Airbus A330's and begans service from Manchester to Washington Dulles and Chicago O'Hare, both services will be operated on a codeshare basis with fellow Star Alliance partner United Airlines.

British Midland

BMI British Midland operates a fleet of Airbus A330, A321, A320, Boeing 737-500/400/300, Fokker 50 and 100, Embraer EMB-145 and Saab 340 aircraft.