Well Leodis, thankyou for clarifying that London is the capital. I believe it is disgraceful that passengers would even consider flying out of a regional airport. In fact, I'm fully in favour of closing down all regional airports and channeling everyone through LHR.
It is quite correct that airlines such as Qantas and Cathay, who were running profitable operations from Manchester, close the routes down in favour of everyone flying from the capital city, on the British national airline.
Let's hope and pray that all other long-haul carriers out of Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham immediately cease operations. We don't want to detract from our capital city, do we?