Originally Posted by
Concerto
So why didn't they keep the BMI brand going, along with some of the other brands they've absorbed?
Okay, let me try to do some Marketing 101.
Marketing 101 tells you to create multiple brands to capture a higher market share in markets in which consumers have different tastes. Mars sells Snickers to people who like peanuts and Mars or Twix to people who don't.
IAG can enjoy some economies of scale even with multiple brands. For instance, MRO in Spain can take care of both IB as well as Vueling aircraft. Cost savings result from centralizing all or part of MRO. But obviously, there are also brand-specific costs which don't benefit as much from economies of scale. E.g., each brand should have its own product image, its own ads, a somewhat unique marketing angle.
So maybe BA thought consumer's don't view BA and BMI as sufficiently distinct products such that it makes sense to continue them as separate brands.
Other factors may have been at play as well. For example, it's conceivable part of the motivation behind purchasing BMI was to get a hold of its slots (which could then be used by BA). I don't know if that was important but it's certainly possible in light of the slot-constrained nature of airports such as Heathrow.