Friday, July 16, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.
A British air carrier that has more than 2,000 flights a week to 37 destinations in Europe, the United States, Canada and the Caribbean will begin nonstop round trips between Manchester, England, and Las Vegas in October.
The airline, bmi, formerly known as British Midland, will fly 244-passenger two-engine Airbus A330 jets three times a week to and from McCarran International Airport.
The new European service bolsters McCarran's international menu of flights, which has grown dramatically in the past 12 months. Based on the number of seats coming into the Las Vegas market daily, the international market has grown 51.2 percent since July 2003 to an average 2,217 incoming seats per day.
The bmi flights will mark the first for that airline to Las Vegas and the first nonstop flights linking Manchester with the western United States. The airline currently offers nonstop trips between Manchester and Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Service will begin Oct. 31 -- Nevada Day -- and operate Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Flights will leave Manchester at 9:05 a.m., arriving in Las Vegas at 12:25 p.m. The return flight leaves Las Vegas at 3:15 p.m., arriving in Manchester at 9:20 a.m., the next day.
The airline said the flights are timed to connect with bmi flights to and from London's Heathrow International Airport, the company's largest base of operations, and the Scottish cities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The airline distinguishes itself as a leader in safety and entertainment on its trans-Atlantic flights. In addition to offering audio and video entertainment and an in-seat Nintendo game system, bmi offers passengers a view of the terrain below from cameras mounted outside the aircraft.
In addition, bmi's long-haul flights are equipped with the Tempus 2000 telemedicine system that can be used to monitor the vital signs of passengers who become ill during flights. The crew communicates with emergency doctors in Arizona and the company said the system helped save the life of a passenger who had a heart attack during a flight from Chicago to Manchester.
A spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority applauded the new service, saying bmi further complements access for European gamblers to Las Vegas with current operators Virgin Atlantic Airways, which flies four times a week between McCarran and London's Gatwick International Airport, and German operator Condor, which flies seasonally twice a week to and from Frankfurt.
"Getting bmi from Manchester is a huge addition for Las Vegas," said Bill Mahaffey, manager of transportation and marketing for the LVCVA. "It's an important addition in our overseas marketing efforts."
Nonstop international flights have increased over the past year, advancing from 2.4 percent of the total McCarran market in July 2003 to 3.1 percent today. Currently, there are 11 nonstop international destinations to and from Las Vegas.
Much of the increase can be attributed to European flights, including those by Virgin Atlantic, which has doubled its flights from two to four a week, bringing an average 234 seats a day into the market.
Condor also nearly doubled the number of seats coming into the market over the past year, going from one to two flights a week from Frankfurt, resulting in an average 75 seats a day arriving from that market.
The rest of Las Vegas' international growth includes flights to and from Mexico and Canada, including four flights a week to and from Vancouver, British Columbia, on Philippine Airlines. That flight is the continuation of a one-stop flight to and from Manila.
Vancouver has been the largest international growth market in the past year with the addition of the Philippine flight and a twice-a-week operation offered by Canada-based Harmony Airways. Vancouver also is the largest international market for Las Vegas with an average 488 seats a day coming into the market.
Various carriers also offer nonstop flights to and from Las Vegas from Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto in Canada and Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterey and Hermosillo in Mexico.
Las Vegas also has one nonstop flight to and from Asia. Japan Airlines operates three flights a week to and from Tokyo's Narita International Airport, resulting in an average 175 seats a day coming into the Las Vegas market.
The increase in flights has offset two international flights that were discontinued in the past year. Allegro Airlines ceased operations, ending that company's schedule of five flights a week between Las Vegas and Tijuana.
Also, Air Canada last month discontinued its two nonstop flights a week between Las Vegas and Montreal.
It's been more than a year since Las Vegas lost another Asian route, a nonstop flight to and from Hong Kong on Singapore Airlines, which discontinued service following disappointing bookings resulting from war jitters and the outbreak of SARS.
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