Lingus is no longer the State National airline - its a business listed on the stock exchange like any other. Take away the LHR slots and the N American special arrangements and you'd destroy most of the value of the airline thus you could describe their business as niche.
I define niche as Within a habitat, a special area with special conditions that supplies a species with factors necessary for its survival. There is nothing at all wrong with that, it can be a stable and profitable thing to be.
You think that a direct connection between BFS and LHR operating twice daily would be a better proposition than a BFS to STN LTN or GWK spread five times daily. Sure for some it would be, particularly leisure travel headed to the West End and Central London. For a lot of people though getting to and from LHR is an expensive nightmare and any time saving is used up in the hold at Bovingdon or by being number 16 for take off.
I'm no analyst but I see Lingus having far more opportunities developing the premium leisure market (everyone has an eleventy million euro house these days) and expending some more money and thinking on the North Atlantic product - those A330's are getting pretty tired these days, for reference go see what product Emirates or Gulf or Virgin are offering on pond hoping; its impressive.
Cheers
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