The news is all over the proposed acquisition of BMI British Midland by IAG, the owners of British Airways.  The Regional division will be acquired by a group of Scottish investors, and the future of BMIBaby is uncertain.

In my opinion, this acquisition has both good and bad consequences should it go through.  Yes, finally BMI's staff have a more certain future.  At present they are loss-making and their current owners Lufthansa are desperate to get rid.  Without BA's involvement, they would have a far more uncertain future.  However we should not see British Airways as the angel coming to save the many.  The main reason BA want BMI is for their slots at Heathrow.  After purchase, BA would have the majority of slots at Heathrow, more than 50%.  This is still far less than other airlines at their home bases (Lufthansa at Frankfurt, Air France at Paris etc).  However the main problem is the routes to the north of England.

BA pulled out of Manchester long ago for all but London flights.  The only two airlines operating the Heathrow flights to Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are currently BA and BMI.  All of a sudden the flights would operate under a monopoly by BA, meaning the days of £60-£70 return flights to London are almost certainly a thing of the past.  This is bad news for consumers who until now have had a cost effective way of getting to the Heathrow/West London areas.  Sure there are other operators flying into City, Gatwick and Stansted airports, but what about connecting passengers onto Star Alliance at Heathrow?  These passengers will now almost certainly find themselves heading via Frankfurt on Lufthansa, another massive blow for Heathrow.

Then we have BMI's excellent low cost division, BMIBaby.  They have struggled through hard times of late and indecisive management, but they remain a high quality low cost airline from East Midlands, Birmingham and Manchester.  The staff are some of the most dedicated, hardworking staff I've flown with, and they offer a fantastic service.  BA entered the low cost market previously with Go-Fly and were forced to bail out when their business model simply did not fit it.  Will they do the same again with BMIBaby?  Sadly I think their future is less than certain, a victory for other LCCs but a sad end to a marvellous airline.

As always, only time will tell, and for certain there are interesting months ahead for BA and the entire BMI group.