bmi regional (Aberdeen Dyce) is mulling adding large regional jets to its fleet with both CRJ900 and E190 under consideration, Chief Commercial Officer Jochen Schnadt has told Air Transport World.
The new jets will be used to grow the regional specialist's fleet beyond the current twenty Embraer ERJ family jets.
"bmi regional needs a certain critical size and the current fleet of 20 aircraft is shy of this objective. We believe a fleet of 35-40 aircraft will create that critical mass in the medium term," Schnadt has said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the carrier currently operates four E135s and sixteen E145s in various variants.
bmi regional is eyeing fleet expansion to better prepare for the upcoming Brexit. Despite being a UK-based carrier, its largest base is presently Munich. Besides a number of routes connecting the UK with continental Europe, bmi regional also serves ten routes not touching the UK at all, mostly out of Munich. Currently, more than 50% of its revenues comes from outside its home market. This segment of the carrier's operations could be in jeopardy should British airlines lose access to the intra-EU market.
It is recalled that in December 2017, bmi regional announced it was evaluating its options to prepare it for a potential regulatory setback resulting from the UK leaving the European Union in March 2019. Spokesperson Sara Whines told ch-aviation at that time that the carrier may either establish a subsidiary with an EU Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) or acquire or enter into a joint-venture with an existing European airline. One of the possible countries in which the carrier could establish a subsidiary is Austria, where easyJet has already established its own EU-based unit, easyJet Europe.
