Originally Posted by
Alteagod
VY was just not marketed in any way or did it appear to be linked to any tour operator. It does the BE BA etc business traveller justice but a few sun routes could help or reach out to some other Cities. Maybe even try and get VLM or Brussels back.
At the time Willie Walsh said that Vueling's BCN-BHD route failed because of a lack of brand awareness in Northern Ireland. As you say that is due, in part at least, to the failings of BHD's marketing department. However, now that Aer Lingus is part of IAG, surely EI could take over the route and codeshare with Vueling (and LEVEL). Aer Lingus would also be suited to operate to several other underserved destinations such as FCO and MUC, which were relatively strong performers when EI operated these routes from BFS.
I doubt that Brussels Airlines will return to BHD using their own metal, but honestly I'm disappointed that BHD management were unable to get bmi Regional to take over the route and codeshare with SN. BM already operate flights to BRU (which is a BM base) from BRS, EMA and NCL, all of which carry SN codeshares. Surely a similar arrangement could have been made for BHD.