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 bmi Airbus A321 in an old, but still frequently seen, colour scheme
bmi, (Airline Code: BD) formerly known as British Midland, is the second largest airline in the United Kingdom. Based at East Midlands Airport, the airline flies to destinations across Europe and North America. bmi holds 14% of all Heathrow take off and landing slots and is part of the Star Alliance grouping of the world's largest airlines.
The airline flies domestic and international routes from UK airports: London Heathrow Airport, London City Airport, Manchester International Airport, Birmingham International Airport, Glasgow International Airport, Edinburgh Airport, East Midlands Airport, Belfast City Airport, Norwich Airport, Newcastle Airport, Durham Tees Valley Airport, Stornoway Airport, Aberdeen Airport and Leeds-Bradford Airport.
The main international routes are from Heathrow to European destinations in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Belgium.
From Manchester Airport, the airline offers transatlantic flights to Chicago and Washington, DC.
bmi has fought to gain transatlantic flights from Heathrow. Only British Airways, Air India, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, United Airlines, Kuwait Airways , and Air Canada are permitted to offer such routes.
In January 1989, the Kegworth Air Disaster killed 47 passengers.
In 2002, bmi set up a low-cost subsidiary known as bmibaby, using redundant Boeing 737s which were displaced after bmi's fleet renewal programme which favours an all-Airbus fleet. bmibaby flies routes between secondary airports around Europe. More recently bmi has been subject of takeover rumours from Virgin Atlantic.
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