MIPIM boost for Birmingham Airport

LOW COST airline bmibaby is increasing the number of flights on its service between Birmingham Airport and Nice to accommodate the large number of delegates expected to head to the south of France for the annual MIPIM property conference next month.  

Running from March 8-11, MIPIM is the world’s leading event for international property professionals.  The exhibition brings together more than 17,000 delegates from all over the world for four days of seminars, networking and business development.

In response to demand, bmibaby has added six extra flights between Birmingham and Nice for the event.  In total the airline will operate 10 flights between Birmingham and Nice over the course of the event, allowing people of the region to travel to and from MIPIM.

The flights are already proving popular and the airline said it expected to carry around 1,400 passengers during the four days.

Julian Carr, managing director, bmibaby, said: “MIPIM continues to be the ‘must attend’ event for property professionals from across the globe.  We are delighted to be able to provide these additional services to meet the increased demand from industry leaders in the West Midlands region wishing to attend.  

“Last year we were seeing flights at up to 99% capacity and we expect this to repeat in 2011.”

In a further boost to services, low cost rival Ryanair has announced it is introducing a new route from Birmingham to Montpellier from April 13. The new service will operate three times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
 
Ryanair will operate 23 routes to destinations all over Europe from Birmingham this summer including Faro, Ibiza and Trieste.
 
Paul Kehoe, CEO, Birmingham Airport said, “This is more good news  – more low cost fares to the south of France, adding to the great range of services offered by Ryanair this summer from Birmingham.”

The flights may well help to boost airport’s passenger figures even further. The airport’s most recent figures for January show a growth of 0.2% in passenger volumes, the first monthly rise for two years.