Summer 2007 - let the thoughts flow?
Well the Summer Slot Conference - in Dallas - has been held, and all the delegates should now be home.
This is therefore the time when people start to get clever and come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas as to routes that will, may, or never in a month of Sunday etc operate.
So what do we KNOW? Well on a personal note the answer is not a lot, however I am sure that things will start to leak out in the near future. Over the last couple of years we have had the silly season of easyJet and it's planned Manchester base. We have had the saga of Cathay Pacific, Thai and other routes.
My guess is on more consolidation of routes and that any new services are likely to be by 'quality' carriers. Gone are the days when applications will far outstrip capacity, it is more likely to be a constrained expansion of services - but hopefully one which will allow the airport to get back on track for growth.
The only thing that does seem certain is that it will be a couple of months before the combined BA/BE route network is known - that is on the basis that the take-over goes ahead.