So BA couldn't make money offering 100 seats a day (approx, as they are shared with Plymouth), with 3-4 departures each way and convenient times for business travellers, connectors at Gatwick, and day return pax.
However, they now can make money offering 150 seats a day on a once daily flight at off-peak times.
Always seems strange that BA are so picky, and choosy, and careful, and successful, starting new routes out of Heathrow, but go for all sorts of oddball places from Gatwick, many of which don't work out.
I always thought the reason many BA Connect (or whatever it's called this week) routes are "unprofitable" is that while they are fine on direct costs, they get loaded with such a huge proportion of overhead costs by HQ, plus inappropriate division of revenues on connecting tickets, they cannot help but be seen by the Waterworld beancounters as not worthwhile. Is the arithmetic done somewhat differently for the Gatwick startup routes ?
i was led to believe the charge was the reason that ryanair stopped their stansted - newquay service; leaving air southwest the monopoly.
Ryanair are still operating to Newquay. A once-daily evening service from Stansted.