HAVING SEEN a clatter of airlines already take flight this year, might the Dublin Airport Authority be about to lose Britain’s BMI?

BMI is one of the airport authority’s best customers, operating 42 flights a week between Dublin and London Heathrow. It is the third biggest carrier in Dublin after Aer Lingus and Ryanair.

However, the company finds itself needing £195 million (€217 million) to stay in the air, but German carrier Lufthansa, which has a controlling stake, is only willing to pony up half this amount.

This has left BMI scrambling to sell off its precious Heathrow slots, at a time when buyers are distinctly thin on the ground.

In the airline’s most recent accounts, its directors warned that uncertainty over the slot sale cast doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern next year.

This has obvious implications for its flights to Dublin, which are thought to be a nice earner.

BMI is one of the few airlines that still offers business class on short-haul flights, and it is popular with Irish travellers who want to fly long haul and use its hub at Heathrow to connect to its network of services to Russia, the Middle East and Asia.

Finding a replacement to BMI wouldn’t be easy for the DAA, especially one that would operate to Heathrow. Aer Lingus this year even moved a pair of Heathrow slots from Dublin to Shannon.

Earlier this year, BMI celebrated 20 years on the Dublin route, hosting a slap-up lunch in the five-star Merrion Hotel, but whether it will be able to celebrate its coming of age here is very much up in the air.