Originally Posted by
Rutan16
Brexit has nothing to do with fifth and sixth freedom long haul through UK airports -More specifically Heathrow/Gatwick/Manchester/Birmingham and historically Prestwick.
That said there has been a long history of fifth freedom operations, however the majority simply went away as range and simple economics allowed carriers to fly greater distances and right over the top of old Blighty .
The days of the likes of Alitalia , Sabena, Air Canada and El-AL traversing are long gone never to return
Exceptions are Air Indias on off on off on and off again transit flights via Heathrow and Birmingham to New York and Toronto.
With valuable slots a premium Air India have again canned west bound operations via Heathrow in preference of an extra India return.
Pakistan - US flights currently suspended - Can’t fly PAK -US none stop even with the 77L if they wanted too due US security concerns- as a result the economics don’t work and flights indefinitely suspended .
Might return however Barcelona is also a preferred transit point for them, that said new Islambad airport is said to be close to being security upgraded by the US authorities, such that none stop services can at last be operated soon.
Singapore via Manchester to Houston combine two important network points where boxes play a significant supporting role to organic blobs
To be honest what airlines are thinking about - The ME3/4 - IMHO that boat has sailed - Qatar are embargoed regionally and as a result has far too many planes . Etihad are a busted flush, and Emirates serve most US points of importance directly.
Gulf Air a sorry shadow of a once proud regional player - Na and Oman well maybe at a push however would probably prefer HOME - None stop with the sub continental one stop advantage over a potential UK uplift.
Ethiopian well they have gone to Dublin . What could entice them via a UK port instead ideas on a post card ?
Just about the only conceivable carrier i can think of right now would be Birman .
What about the Chinese you might say , Dublin/Edinburgh wasn’t a raving success so where would they really want/need to go to via the UK ?
Central or South America? - They do that via Madrid where they at least can dump some very cheap VFR tickets on the consolidators whilst hauling their boxes of cr*p and delivering Xi Jinping sponsored “technical personnel and financiers” to milk these developing markets !
RE Ethiopian - does their flight ADD-BRU-MAN not count as a fifth freedom? I understand they can't pick up in Brussels, but does that reduce the degrees of freedom?