BMI exec hopes to add Heathrow-McCarran flight

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Friday, Nov. 5, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

The British air carrier that inaugurated nonstop service between Manchester, England, and Las Vegas this week plans an aggressive push for flights between London's Heathrow International Airport and McCarran International.

Nigel Turner, in his first public appearance as BMI's new chief executive, said the company will work with Great Britain's Civil Aviation Authority to get an "open skies" agreement to develop more trans-Atlantic flights between Heathrow and the United States.

In a news conference today with several British reporters on a familiarization trip to Las Vegas, Turner said he hopes to get government clearance for trans-Atlantic flights, which are currently dominated by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United and American.

He called the measure that blocks BMI from flying trans-Atlantic from Heathrow "as tenable as the Berlin Wall."

"I don't know what day that will crumble down," he said.

Turner said he is encouraged by pre-bookings between Manchester and Las Vegas, confirming that the twice-a-week flights would become a year-round route.