Mid-haul bmi flights boosted with 757s

Airline bmi has announced it is to lease two Boeing 757 planes to increase its mid-haul options flying from Heathrow Airport and remove the need for stops on certain journeys.

Non-stop flights to the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown, as well as to Almaty in Kazakhstan will be launched by bmi from May 1st, while a 757 will also be used to increase capacity for the airline's existing Heathrow to Tel Aviv service.

"We strongly believe that in order to continue the development of the mid-haul network, now is the time to upgrade capacity and the aircraft range on certain routes that will clearly benefit from non-stop services," said Nigel Turner, chief executive officer of bmi.

There will now be a fourth flight every week to Freetown, while the time taken for the journey will be reduced by one and a half hours.

According to Mr Turner, the airline wanted to make the improvements to capacity that the awaited Airbus 330s will make when they are delivered, without having the prolonged wait.

The Heathrow to Tel Aviv service, which begins in March, was announced in December last year with the airline calling it "tremendous news".

• United Airlines to resume flights from London to Denver
• British Airways strikes inflight entertainment deal
• Tunarama Festival to attract visitors to Australia
• Paphos Airport gets off to good start
• British Airways fliers to "breeze" through JFK
• Winter season underway in Austria
• Ski slopes opening in Alberta
• Air Berlin launches new flights from Stansted Airport
• Air New Zealand, Boeing confirm biofuel test flight
• 'Jumbo Hostel' to open at Stockholm Arlanda Airport