BA owner IAG sells bmi Regional for £8m The move comes less than a month after the completion of IAG's purchase of bmi, which was bought to bolster its position at London's overcrowded Heathrow airport. "This deal provides a future for bmi Regional and should secure around 330 jobs," claimed Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, who spent years pursuing the deal to buy bmi for its valuable Heathrow take-off and landing slots. The regional division of bmi, based in Aberdeen, runs scheduled services from 14 Scottish, English and Northern European airports, using a fleet of 18 Embraer SA jets. When Lufthansa sold the company to IAG, it reduced the sale price because it had failed to offload the Regional division before the deal. Last week, Mr Walsh caused waves with unions when he said another BMI division, the no-frills bmibaby, could be closed in September, putting 470 jobs at risk. At the time, Peter Simpson, bmi interim managing director, said the company recognised that bmi's staff had experienced a long period of instability, but that the company no longer had a financially sensible future as part of the wider IAG group. Bmibaby has continued to struggle financially, losing more than £100m in the last four years. The deal for bmi Regional, which helps alleviate some of the pressure from unions, will reunite the division with its one-time boss, Ian Woodley. Mr Woodley runs Sector Aviation Holdings, which is backed by Stephen and Peter Bond, who are behind Scotland's Loganair. Before 1996, Mr Woodley ran Business Air, which was bought by bmi and made up the lion's share of the company's Regional division. IAG said all the fixed assets and long-term liabilities, including owned and operating lease aircraft, had been sold as part of the deal.