bmibaby celebrates six years at Manchester

Low cost airline bmibaby is this week celebrating six years of flying from Manchester Airport. The low cost airline started flying from Manchester Airport in May 2003 and since then has continued to bring new and exciting routes to the region.

To celebrate the birthday, one lucky passenger was presented at check in with two free return flights to use on the new bmibaby service from Manchester to Amsterdam.

bmibaby has flown over 4,782,000 passengers from Manchester Airport since launch, and currently operates up to 180 flights a week to and from Manchester. The airline started flying from Manchester in 2003 with six routes, and now operates flights to seventeen European destinations.

For summer 2009 bmibaby introduced new routes from Manchester Airport to Amsterdam and Toulouse, both of which have proven so popular that the routes will also be operated in winter 2009/2010. bmibaby is currently the only low cost carrier to offer a service between Manchester and Toulouse. In addition the airline will operate a brand new service from Manchester to Grenoble for the winter period.

Crawford Rix, managing director, bmibaby, said:

“We are pleased to celebrate six years of flying from Manchester Airport. bmibaby launched services from Manchester in May 2003 and since then we have carried over 4,782,000 passengers to top sunshine and city destinations. We continue to see strong demand from people in Manchester and the regions for low cost travel to exciting European destinations.

“Our new summer flights from Manchester to Amsterdam and Toulouse are proving very popular and as a result we have decided to continue to operate these services in the winter months. We will also be adding another new route for our winter 2009/2010 flying programme, from Manchester to Grenoble. This looks set to be an extremely popular route for the winter period and we expect to carry over 4,000 passengers on this service.”

Andrew Harrison, commercial director, Manchester Airport, said:

"Over the past six years, bmibaby have grown their route network, offering passengers from the region an excellent range of destinations for leisure or business purposes. bmibaby is now operating flights to Amsterdam and Toulouse giving passengers an even greater choice of destinations and fares when booking a summer holiday from Manchester Airport."