Originally Posted by
BA318
The addition of LHR-LBA and LHR-AMS don’t really scream serious airline planning to keep those slots long term…
LHR-AMS certainly doesn't make much sense given the stiff competition that they'll likely face from both BA & KLM; LHR-LBA makes a little more sense given it's currently an unserved route that has been previously operated from/to LHR, however it's already been discussed that a lack of a codeshare/interline agreement to allow for connections will not really help as customers will be required to pick their bags up and re-check in with the onward carrier.
I did hear a rather intriguing rumour from someone yesterday that they [Flybe 2.0] won't actually fly from/to LHR...they've just announced and put those routes on sale in order to avoid risk losing the slots. When I enquired as to a reason why, I was told it had something to do with the aircraft being too slow to be able to land at LHR, but Flybe 1.0 previously operated the Dash 8 from/to there and the runway length at LHR surely isn't an issue so I can't/don't believe this could be the case, however I'm not sure if any other airline has used the same aircraft type into LHR though and experienced issue(s)...?