also look into People Express- seemed to be along some of the same concepts you mentioned.
Longhaul has been difficult to operate as no frills because firstly you'd be operating (almost certainly) to a foreign country and all this works with heavy govt. regulation etc etc. You can read about it in a book titled "Airline Economics."
Also one of the key concepts around shorthaul- no frills is - Turnover time. Southwest, Jetblue, Ryanair etc, have very low turnover times sometimes less than half-an- hour. With a long haul carrier this is just not possible.
Lastly traditional carriers can quickly drive these types out of the market. Most airlines operate what is called "yeild management systems" and thus in instances will be able to match short haul fares while at the same time not losing their higher paying passengers. Read about it online and ask around. It is quite interesting.