British Midland LHR service

[lukemc]

Hi,

I know that British Midland took over the service from Liverpool-Heathrow from Manx Airlines an that continued until they pulled of the route in 1992 - I knew that they used DC9s on the service and it was under the British Midland "Diamond Service" brand - what was this service like? How many pax could the DC-9 take - was it mainly DC9-15s or 30s? What were the fares like on this service - obviously you could not book online in those days so was the most common way to book by telephone? Could the service be used for interlining onto longhaul flights at LHR remembering this was in the days before codesharing? Used to like those DC9s and the noise they made when they took of - second only to the Ryanair 1-11s!

Luke

[Deleted]

Not a BM DC9 taking off but it will bring back memories sound wise.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsDHgonjuac&feature=related

[Cityflyer]

I think there is a picture of a DC9 taking off from LPL in the history of Beitish Midland that I have, I wikk try to find the book & Scan the shot for dispaly on the forum. I also have a shot od G-HOPP of Manx airlines overflying the Liver building

[midland500]

Sept 12, 2010 18:33:11 GMT 1 @lukemc said:

Hi,

I know that British Midland took over the service from Liverpool-Heathrow from Manx Airlines an that continued until they pulled of the route in 1992 - I knew that they used DC9s on the service and it was under the British Midland "Diamond Service" brand - what was this service like? How many pax could the DC-9 take - was it mainly DC9-15s or 30s? What were the fares like on this service - obviously you could not book online in those days so was the most common way to book by telephone? Could the service be used for interlining onto longhaul flights at LHR remembering this was in the days before codesharing? Used to like those DC9s and the noise they made when they took of - second only to the Ryanair 1-11s!

Luke

Hello Luke,

British Midland took over the Heathrow service originally from British Airways in October 1978 and ran the services with the DC9-15s mainly for two years before downgrading to the Viscount and in the Autumn of 1981 the F27 took over the route and there was no change until the route was handed over to Manx Airlines as it deemed it would fit in with their network better in April 1986.
This was not really successfull and British Midland took over the route again in the Autumn of 1988 using the DC9-15.Occasionally due to tech aircraft or strikes at MAN or on the railways the DC9-30 was used.
The DC9-15 was kitted out with 85 seats and the -30 with 110 seats. The service for such a short sector was excellent including a hot breakfast,juice,yoghurt's and bread roll as well as Tea/Coffee on the morning flights and the meal service reflected the time of day,Afternoon tea was my favorite with sandwiches and a scone with jam and cream with a drink from the bar and Tea/Coffee.
Fares varied but by the end of the route the cheapest single fare was £60 and most expensive £81. Cheapest return was £80 with £162 the most expensive.
the route slowly built up customers again from its difficult start of approx 7,500 pax in Nov 88 to 10,500 per month in the Autumn of 1990 however this was still less than 50% load factor and the route began to decline with the advent of the gulf war and a nasty recession in 1991.BMA had began to grow into Europe from its heathrow hub and as there was no slots available any growth was at the expense of another route.Liverpool lost its LHR link in March 92 and the slots were used for LHR to Brussels which has also disappeared from the BMI schedules a year or so ago.
Many domestic routes have now gone from LHR and I'm my opinion never to return.

[Cityflyer]

At last my shot of a BMA DC 9 lifting off from the old airfield @ Liverpool : -



Complete with the name Merseyside

[midland500]

Great picture.

Was it used in Liverpool Airports timetable in 1980 as there was a picture in that which was almost identical.