Hang on guys, we are not talking about what the current airlines are doing , be it profitable or not. We are trying to establish if any of the current operators will be able to fill the gap before any of the other major airlines take it all.
I very much doubt it that Vern will be able to come up with enough frames to add a 2-3 flights a day to LHR over and above the ones he is operating now. Just remember you will need to have 4-5 aircraft for the rotation alone. Add to that the increase in crewing costs, training and maintenance. We are also talking of no USA flights, which means a higher demand on the Europe flights for the hop across the pond.
We are talking scale of economics here, which means you need to be big enough first before things get cheaper.
Mega Mula upfront... maybe the government knows that it is cheaper to keep on giving money to SAA rather than giving it to foreign carrier.