British airline bmi is considering more medium-length flights like its new London-Moscow route in an effort to make better use of its valuable take-off and landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport, the carrier's chief said.

Nigel Turner, chief executive of bmi, said it was interested in establishing more mid-range flights to complement its mostly short-haul schedule, but he declined to name specific cities that the carrier had in mind.

"We hope to get other medium-haul destinations," he said in an interview, adding the potential new routes would be served by Airbus A320 planes.

Bmi, formerly known as British Midland, said in July it would start daily flights from London to Moscow from October 29 jointly with private Russian carrier Transaero.

The British carrier has the second highest number of sought-after take-off and landing slots at London's congested Heathrow airport, second only to British Airways.

Bmi has been looking at other new, longer routes as it seeks to expand. It started flying to Mumbai in India and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia last year.

Turner said the company would eventually be in the market for new planes but was not currently in talks with aircraft makers. He said the carrier would likely stick to Airbus planes for its mainline flights, Boeing for its no-frills division bmibaby, and Embraer for regional flights.

Turner was in Brussels to meet officials at the European Commission, whom he planned to urge to speed up moves to sign an "open skies" aviation agreement with the United States, which would eliminate existing restrictions put on transatlantic routes.

Bmi Chairman Michael Bishop owns 50 percent plus one share of bmi, while Germany's Lufthansa has 30 percent minus one share and Scandinavia's SAS owns 20 percent.