Max Kingsley-Jones/MANCHESTER
In an unprecedented move, BMI British Midland has kicked off its new transatlantic services with full 180min extended range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority, despite having no previous experience of flying twinjets on long-haul routes.
The airline says this "instant" 180min ETOPS clearance from the CAA for the operation of its Rolls-Royce Trent-powered Airbus A330-200s was made possible by extensive planning between the two parties which began over a year ago.
"Our original goal was to gain 138min from the start," says BMI chief operating officer James Hogan. " But during meetings with the CAA everything was going so well we decided to go for the full 180min approval."
ETOPS approval for an airline is based on a number of areas of experience including operations and maintenance. Monarch Engineering, an arm of the established A330-200 charter operator, is providing BMI's maintenance.
A group of BMI's pilots have spent the past year flying theA330-200 with UK charter airline Airtours International on long-haul routes to gain the necessary operational experience. BMI executive chairman Sir Michael Bishop was until last week deputy chairman of Airtours, but resigned to avoid any potential conflict of interest after the recent restructuring of the tour operator market.
BMI launched its scheduled transatlantic services from Manchester on 12 May by introducing six times weekly flights to Washington Dulles. Flights to Chicago begin early next month (Flight International, 8-14 May). The airline's first three A330s are all entering service this month, while a fourth has been damp-leased to Star Alliance partner SAS for a year until the airline can expand its long-haul network.
The airline's original plan had been to launch transatlantic services from London Heathrow but this will not be possible until the UK and USA resolve a long running wrangle over a new air services agreement.
Bishop is adamant that the next stage of long-haul expansion will be from Heathrow and rules out more routes from "regional" airports ahead of this. "I remain confident we will be able to start transatlantic services from Heathrow next year," he says, anticipating a speeding up of the negotiation process after the UK's government elections on 7 June.
If Heathrow transatlantic access continues to elude it, BMI has a fall-back option of flying to other long-haul destinations from the London airport such as South Africa or the Middle East.
Source: Flight International
