BMI British Midland chairman Sir Michael Bishop is calling for immediate liberalisation of the transatlantic air market, accusing the British government of colluding with UK transatlantic operators to maintain a closed market at the expense of would-be competitors.
Speaking to the Aviation Club of Great Britain, Bishop poured scorn on competing airlines, such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, who in his opinion have manipulated government negotiations in their favour. Their support for a Europe-wide open skies deal with the USA, in his opinion, is just as duplicitous. "Those who argue for throwing the key [negotiating power] to Brussels, as BA and Virgin have done, are in effect arguing for the status quo," he says, leaving BA and Virgin the only UK airlines flying to New York Kennedy from London Heathrow.
Instead, he says, the UK should try again to sign a bilateral open skies deal with the USA, claiming that the last attempt, which collapsed in February, had been sabotaged by the UK government.
Bishop is confident that the industry will not be crippled by the current downturn - adding, however, that the economic climate is unlikely to improve before the end of the year. The world airline industry, he believes, was in better shape before 11 September than it was before the previous crisis - the Gulf War - which followed several years of losses. In the years before 2001, most airlines were making moderate profits and traffic has already started to recover.
BMI increased net profits last year 51% to £12.4 million ($18 million), despite falling traffic after 11 September. However, the increase was only made possible by the one-off proceeds of the sale of its handling division for £60 million. Before the sale, an estimated loss of £35 million revenue led to an operating loss of almost £12 million.
Passenger numbers were 5% down, blamed largely on a drop in transfer passengers at its London Heathrow hub after the attacks.
Source: Flight International
