Bmibaby to carry 500,000 passengers in nine months

Bmibaby expects to carry 500,000 passengers in its first nine months.

This estimate is 33% higher than its earlier forecast.

Bmibaby says 49,034 seats were sold on the eight routes flown by its three aircraft over the past month, a load factor of 74%.

The company says 91% of all flights operated on time or within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time.

Three new routes from East Midlands Airport to Alicante, Geneva and Munich will be introduced in the autumn, with seats going on sale on May 1.

The fleet will increase to five aircraft in October and eight in March, 2003.

The offshoot of bmi british midland says further routes are under "active evaluation", and a second UK base will be established next March.

Tony Davis, managing director of bmibaby, says: "Having decided to enter the low-cost sector, bmibaby has

proved it will be a major player.

"Our passenger sales for the first four weeks of service demonstrate that our operation at East Midlands Airport will be extremely successful. Bmibaby has both the expertise and resource to mount a major expansion, and we intend to compete vigorously in this sector.

"We expect to carry one and a half million passengers next year and have now embarked on a process to establish a second UK hub before the start of the next summer season."