Originally Posted by
172driver
OK, it's certainly the biggest market, but it's also the route where C class makes least sense due to short duration of flight.
On the contrary, because of the short duration of the flight this is a route on which it makes a great deal of sense.
The majority of business class passengers are not people who are swanning around the world to enjoy the fine wines and gourmet cuisine on board their aircraft. They're people who are going to get on board the aircraft at (say) 8 pm, fly for just over 6 hours, arrive in London at 8 am - and then be expected to be at their desks in the office as soon as they can get there, or even be in a meeting by 11 am. Every minute of sleep is valuable. That's why BA and VS have products like the Sleeper Service on these short routes.
When you add to that the fact that it's not only a big market but a very rich market as well (the only profitable year-round Concorde route ever, for example), the targeting makes sense.
If confirmation were needed, look at the way that Maxjet has temporarily dropped Washington - but New York remains in place.