Passenger numbers soar 400% at bmibaby

The youngest of Britain's new breed of low-cost airlines, bmibaby, will today announce a 400 per cent increase in passenger numbers in its first year of operation.

The East Midlands-based airline, which also now operates from Cardiff, carried 225,000 passengers last month – a fivefold increase on the 53,000 who flew with it in April last year.

In its first 12 months bmibaby carried 1.3 million passengers and it expects that number to grow to 3 million in the current calendar year with the launch today of services from a third regional hub at Manchester airport.

The expansion at Manchester will increase bmibaby's network to 37 destinations served using a fleet of 13 aircraft. A fourth regional base will open at Teesside airport in October.

Tony Davis, the managing director, said bmibaby would be interested in expanding operations through a merger with a rival low-cost airline and also held out the possibility of introducing services from one of the airports in the South-east of England.

The airline's parent company, BMI British Midland, lost £16m last year after incurring start-up costs on its new no-frills carrier. Mr Davis said bmibaby's aim was to break even this year and make a profit in 2004.