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bmibaby
IATA WW	ICAO BMI	Callsign BABY
Founded		2002
Hubs		Manchester Airport East Midlands Airport Birmingham International Airport Cardiff International Airport
Frequent flyer program		bmi Diamond Club
Fleet size		21
Destinations		24
Parent company		British Midland Airways Ltd.
Headquarters		Castle Donington, England, United Kingdom
Key people		Nigel Tuner (CEO), Sir Michael Bishop CBE (Chairman), Crawford Rix (Managing Director bmibaby), David Hodge (Marketing Director bmibaby), Steve Burns (Commercial Director bmibaby), Tim Berry (Operations Director bmibaby), Lee Gainsbury (Head of Ground Services)
Website: http://www.bmibaby.com

bmibaby is the low-cost airline subsidiary of bmi. It flies to destinations in Europe from its main bases at East Midlands, Manchester, Cardiff, and Birmingham International.

Unlike its parent bmi, bmibaby is not a member of the Star Alliance. The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, and is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Services 3 Fleet 4 Trivia 5 External links 6 References

^{[citation needed]}

The airline was established on 17 January 2002 and started operations on 22 March 2002 with a flight between East Midlands and Málaga.

bmibaby is able to differentiate itself in the marketplace through advertising, low fares, customer service and its website. The site allows passengers to make or change their booking online, view previous bookings and to allocate their seats before checking in, albeit at an extra charge.

In late autumn 2006, the airline announced a significant expansion programme at Birmingham International airport increasing the number of Boeing 737 aircraft based at the airport from five to eight and the introduction of 8 new routes. In February 2007, the airline announced further growth plans at Birmingham International airport with an additional Boeing 737 aircraft being based at the airport, taking the total to nine and the total amount of routes served to 21, making it the airline's biggest base.

On [[1 March 2007, the airline announced a radical new initiative for business travellers with an 'only choose what you need' approach. Business travellers using the airline now had the option to choose from a range of services such as ticket flexibility, executive lounge access and on line check in and only pay for they 'bits'they used.

BmiBaby serves these destinations as of (April 2007)

Domestic services -

Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham East midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey, Manchester, Newquay.

International services -

Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Cork, Faro, Ibiza, Geneva, Knock, Lisbon, Malaga, Marseille, Murcia, Nice,Palma, Paris CDG, Perpignan, Prague, Rome

The bmibaby fleet consists of the following aircraft at March 2007^[2] :

Aircraft	#	Seats
Boeing 737-300	13	148[3]
Boeing 737-500	6	131

• The airline announced in autumn 2006 that it would be increasing its fleet size to 21 aircraft for the summer 2007 flying season.
• The airline might also be replacing its 6 Boeing 737-500's in order to buy 8 Boeing 737-300's.^{[citation needed]}

The bmibaby fleet average age is 12.2 years.^[4]

• Aircraft are named with 'baby' in the title, such as rock a bye baby and baby blue skies. On 25th August 2006 bmibaby was confirmed as the sponsor of the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) in the UK. One plane is now named ice ice baby. ^[5]
• To celebrate bmiBaby's 2nd base opening, at Cardiff International Airport in 2003, a competition held in local schools resulted in one Cardiff-Based aircraft as "Baby Dragon Fly"

• bmibaby
• bmibaby Fleet
• bmibaby Fleet Age

1. ^ Operating Licence
2. ^ Flight International 27 March 2007
3. ^ Bmibaby's company facts
4. ^ easyJet's Fleet Age Details
5. ^ Sponsors of Elite Ice Hockey League