Insider Media Limited

Derby's Bmibaby will be focusing on "dominating" the Midlands airspace over the next few years, managing director Julian Carr has told Insider. He said the low-cost airline pulled out of flying from Manchester and Cardiff earlier this year after fears it was spreading itself too thin and cited tough competition as a reason for pulling out of the north of England.

"The Midlands is where we are strongest - it's our heartland and it's where we have grown as a company," said Carr. "We're a relatively small airline on a global stage and want to make sure we dominate the Midlands rather than try and have a small presence in several locations."

Earlier this year, the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa owned Bmi announced it would be axing its flights from Cardiff and Manchester, but increasing its offerings from East Midlands airport.

"Manchester is a great gateway for passengers from the north – a fantastic airport," said Carr. "But it was very hard to stand out from the other airlines there – we are small in that we only have two planes flying from Manchester, and couldn't have the same sort of impact as others."

Carr also dismissed rival airline Ryanair's proposals to start charging passengers to use the on-board toilets and creating cut-price standing tickets as "a PR stunt".

"It was, to be blunt, just a stunt. There may have been an element of seriousness to that; I really can't see it happening. It's certainly not something we'd look to do – we're going the other way in that we're developing our services rather than restricting them."

The managing director, who took on the role just over a year ago, said the airline has plans to expand its offering of destinations from its hub of airports.

"Spain has always been a popular destination, as has the south of France – but I'd definitely like to sample a few different flight paths.

"New destinations we are going to be offering from the Midlands include Lisbon, Rome, Naples, Corfu, Gibraltar and Chambery."

He added that the days of snobbery towards low-cost airlines had lessened dramatically.

"It's definitely faded to an extent – just paying for what you want and use is very attractive to passengers. Why pay over the odds when you can have the same experience, same destination with a low-cost carrier? I think a lot of people have realised the logic in that over the past few years."