Still no big announcement from NOW.
The HOP proposal is a non-starter. Ask anyone who has tried to successfully operate 30-40 seat aircraft around the UK. It is impossible to get the unit seat costs low enough to compete agains surface transport, unless you have a reasonable European operation as well, or have a well developed niche.
Formal link-ups with Low cost operations do not work either. Anything that involves transfers has a cost, and can delay flights, both of which are a complete anathema to the Low Cost Model.
Stansted has turned into an un-official low-cost hub on the basis of the number of operators. But even easyJet will not formalise transfer between it's OWN flights because of the costs and operational complications.
Meanwhile........
I checked the search engine last night when it was working. This will be the 4th 10 page+ thread on an operation that APPEARS no further forward than it did last May.
Eagerbeaver, I have to assume your view that the "NOW management are an excellent group of people" must be based on something the rest of us don't know. Because so far they have nothing to show for their "excellent" work. Would you care to share a view on their "achievemments"? I am particularly interested in your view on their decision to offer jobs to people when they wern't funded, thus requiring to make them redundant again within months. "Excellent " or what?