There was probably nothing wrong behind the idea of
GO, it’s just that it was the wrong thing for BA to get involved in. Why on Earth would we want to get into competition with ourselves, unless of course it was an attempt by the man who shall forever associated with blunder and pestilence to prove some point over shorthaul costs.
The fact is that both GO and EuroGatwick were losing £100m a year whilst management were trying to tell us what a disaster EG was and how those losses were unsustainable. In addition, I heard from the horses mouth a frank admission that if GO had had to operate out of Heathrow, then they could barely have matched the costbase of LHR Shorthaul. So much for BA being
soooh expensive!
The truth is that it was a stunt arranged by Ailing Bob, and his inability to understand that there is more than one market for shorthaul travel in Europe. There are those who wish to ‘go’ on the cheap with a no bells and whistles service from a regional airport – doesn’t matter where to doesn’t matter where. Then there is the serious business traveller who needs a direct service, connected to a major hub, with a reliable robust service at a sensible time, to another major terminal convenient for his/her needs. For such a service a premium is acceptable, and they have no problem paying it.
If you don’t accept this argument then perhaps you wouldn’t mind driving a Trabant. There is room in this business for Skoda’s and BMW’s and the skilful Chief Executive knows where his company is headed.
