flyerz111:
An alternative scenario:
Aircraft parked = poor schedule planning, unlikely to be off-set by operating marginal service to NQY
Aircraft flying = opportunity to lose more money on BA mainline cost base, unless high yield traffic available
Air Southwest traffic = already presumably providing considerable traffic feed to BA at LGW without BA having to do a thing
Air Southwest traffic = opportunity for BA to make real cash for handling at LGW without any incremental cost
BA traffic = loss making for BA at same fares ASW are charging due to BA seat-operating-costs higher than ASW
BA fares = see above
ASW drop frequency = unlikely as the costs of them operating an off-peak service are a fraction of the costs of BA operating one, and this route is core business for them and marginal business for BA
BA traffic = low yield business, especially BA customers burning their airmiles
And finally... if BA have been primed to expect a Ryan pull-out, they have been primed incorrectly as Ryan are not pulling out!