BMI British Midland

bmi (the airline uses lower case for its name) is the second largest airline in the United Kingdom. It is based at London's Heathrow Airport, flying to many 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 a variety of domestic and international routes from the following 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, Teeside Airport, Stornoway Airport, Aberdeen Airport and Leeds-Bradford Airport.

The main international routes are from Heathrow to various 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. Currently only British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, and United Airlines are permitted to offer such routes.

More recently bmi has been subject to takeover rumours from both Virgin Atlantic and British Airways.

In January 1989, the Kegworth Air Disaster occurred, killing 47 on the aircraft.