bmi Rolls Out Chauffeur Drive on Key Regional Business Routes

London (PRWEB) July 18 2009 -- bmi, the business airline, has extended its complimentary Chauffeur Drive (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/the-experience/business-class/chauffeur-drive.aspx) service to include UK regional airports. The service is now available to and from Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Manchester airports in addition to London Heathrow.

Customers travelling on selected Business Class fares to Almaty, Amman, Azerbaijan, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Kyrgyzstan, Moscow, Saudi Arabia, Tel Aviv and Yerevan can now take advantage of this service to and from the airport at each end. The service is also available in the UK only for those travelling to Tehran and Tbilisi.

The Chauffeur Drive service enables Business Class (http://www.flybmi.com/) customers travelling on fully-flexible fares to experience bmi service beyond the flight for more convenient and hassle-free travel. Up to four transfers can be taken per return flight with the service available at both ends of the route.

Silver E-Class Mercedes Benz are used for Chauffeur Drive within the UK, and equivalent vehicles at the destination, and specially branded parking bays for the E-class Mercedes to pull into are now available at London Heathrow's Terminal 1. These customers will be met on arrival by a bmi concierge, who will collect their bags and transfer them to bmi's newly designed Premium check-in zone at Terminal 1, creating a faster route through the airport.

The Chauffeur Drive service is part of bmi's programme of developments which are being rolled out to provide a more convenient and flexible service for customers. bmi is the UK's leading business airline and earlier this year pioneered paperless boarding and mobile check-in, the first British airline to offer this innovative service. With no fuel surcharges on UK and European routes and the UK's most generous loyalty programme, business travellers really can see the difference when flying with bmi.

Other news from bmi includes the new international lounge bmi Number One Heathrow (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/the-experience/bmi-no.-1-heathrow.aspx) which opened its doors on 1 June 2009. bmi Number One Heathrow (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/flight-and-airport-info/airports/number-one-heathrow.aspx) is the perfect stop for bmi customers connecting to any of bmi's international destinations (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/flight-and-airport-info/destination-guides/world.aspx) where they can choose to relax, refresh or rehydrate between flights and enjoy some homely British comforts. The airline also recently unveiled its new Premium Check-in area at London Heathrow's Terminal 1 to provide a fast and hassle free check-in service for Business Class and Premium Economy (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/the-experience/premium-economy/premium-economy.aspx) customers as well as bmi Gold and Silver Diamond Club (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/diamond-club/diamondclub/diamondclub.aspx) members and Star Alliance Gold members.

Peter Spencer, Managing Director of bmi commented:

"We have received positive feedback about our Chauffeur Drive service from our Business Class customers and we are pleased to extend this complimentary offering. We want our customers to experience high quality service as well as value for money and we are always looking for ways we can improve our offering. These initiatives help us to deliver a seamless travel solution and reinforce our commitment to providing the best possible service for business travel."

•bmi is the second largest airline at London Heathrow, one of the world's leading international hub airports. Across its mainline route network bmi operates to Aberdeen; Addis Ababa; Aleppo; Almaty; Amman; Amsterdam; Baku; Beirut; Belfast City; Bishkek; Brussels; Cairo; Damascus; Dammam; Dublin; Edinburgh; Freetown; Glasgow; Hanover; Jeddah; Khartoum; Kiev; London Heathrow; Manchester; Moscow Domodedovo; Palma Mallorca; Riyadh; Tbilisi; Tehran; Tel Aviv; Venice; Yerevan.

bmi regional operates to Aberdeen; Birmingham; Brussels; Cologne; Copenhagen; East Midlands; Edinburgh; Esbjerg; Glasgow; Groningen; Leeds Bradford; Lyon; Manchester; Norwich; Zurich.

•bmi is a member of Star Alliance, established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer customers worldwide reach and a smooth travel experience. Star Alliance received the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award in 2008 and was voted Best Airline Alliance by Business Traveller Magazine in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and by Skytrax in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. The members are Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Regional member carriers Adria Airways (Slovenia), Blue1 (Finland) and Croatia Airlines enhance the global network. Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 17,000 daily flights to 916 destinations in 160 countries.

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