Bmi: who's going to be holding the baby?

摘要

Bmi broke back into pre-tax profit in 2004 after two years of losses, yet two of its three shareholders are believed to be seeking an exit. Does shareholder uncertainty imply the future for the bmi group is less than secure? bmi's origins date back to 1938, but the airline was named British Midland Airways in 1964 before turning into bmi in 2002. Today the bmi group comprises bmi (the main airline), bmi Regional and bmibaby (its LCC), and altogether it operates a fleet of 59 aircraft out of the UK. Run conservatively by management, the airline made steady - if unspectacular - profits through the 1990s (see Aviation Strategy, March 1998). However, following September 11, the group posted a pre-tax loss of £19.6m in 2002 - its first pre-tax loss in a decade. In 2003 passengers carried rose 25%, resulting in a 6.6% rise in revenue to £772m and a trimming of the pre-tax loss to £9.8m, although the Gulf war badly affected transfer traffic from bmi's Star alliance partners at London Heathrow, costing the group around £17m.