Agreed, MonkeyB. BRS has a record of such comments ... little digs at CWL. Always thought this approach was a touch adolescent.
As an outsider these days, I'm not surprised at a lack of new routes this year. In fact, if you keep in touch with the route development business all around the world (perhaps via anna.aero), you will see that airlines are generally sitting on their hands. Why risk new ventures when economies are in such turmoil, mergers have yet to bed down, fuel costs are astronomical and carriers have gone belly-up? Frankly, you'd have to be mad to invest in anything as risky as a thin route from a limited market. Unless you can maybe do it with a 20-seat glider.
On the other hand, rationalising your route network makes a lot of sense. Swap a destination that isn't quite making it for one with more promise, perhaps. Double-drop where it makes financial sense. Shuffle your a/c around so that you can get your load factors up. Box clever, enhance your efficencies, cut waste in the air as well as on the ground.
IMHO, I think CWL is probably focussed on 2010 right now. 2008 was a basket case, 2009 is likely to be a year of consolidation and recovery. So, if this forum wants to help, cast your minds a couple of years ahead and figure out which businesses will be using CWL routes then, why and how often. You might even want to predict 2010's trendy holiday destinations, while you are at it. After all, who ever had heard of the Cape Verde Islands as we entered the new millennium?
