UK carrier bmi has announced that it will begin its transatlantic flights in 2009 - a year after the Europe-USA open skies pact takes effect.

Speaking during an interview at a recent conference, bmi chief executive Nigel Turner said that the airline will launch services between Heathrow Airport and destinations in the USA at this later date so that it has time to examine demand and competition levels, Bloomberg reports.

The open skies agreement, signed earlier this year, is expected to allow airlines to operate more transatlantic services and increase choice for travellers from March 2008, with bmi previously thought to be one of the carriers set to benefit the most from the deal.

"We're not going to jump in in April. We're going to postpone our entry into the market until 2009," Mr Turner commented.

Despite this, passengers can still travel to the USA under the bmi banner onboard one of its codeshare flights from March next year.

Last month, the airline announced that it had expanded its codeshare network by adding flights to Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco and Denver through an agreement with United Airlines.

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