Travellers can now buy tickets for 17 new winter routes to be operated by bmi from Heathrow Airport, it was announced today.

The carrier said that as a result of the completion of its takeover and integration of BMED-operated British Airways routes, passengers can now begin purchasing tickets for the new flights that are to be launched on October 28th.

Destinations to be served by these new routes include Aleppo in Syria, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Amman in Jordan, Ankara in Turkey and Tbilisi in Georgia, among others. A new daily service to Cairo will also launch on November 4th.

"These new routes represent the single largest expansion of the bmi brand in the history of the airline and mark our continuing transition into a truly global airline," commented bmi chief executive Nigel Turner.

Also announced were plans to overhaul inflight meal and entertainment offerings on mid and long-haul routes and introduce new lie-flat beds on certain flights from Heathrow and to the Caribbean and the USA from Manchester.

Passengers heading to Caribbean and American destinations will also be able to benefit from a new premium economy class cabin, the carrier said.

An extra return flight between Manchester and Aberdeen was launched by bmi on Monday (September 3rd).

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