Icarus,
Are you sure GF went to FCO with a 320? I was under the impression they used the 330's (even 767)? I think it is very unfair of you to put all the blame the scheduling dept. There are tons of other problems with GF, and yield is one of the most important reasons why. Because of competition from other airlines in the region, yield has been taking a downward spiral and that has not helped. As a result, a lot of the routes have a break-even S.F. of over 100%. The scheduling dept. can fill up the plane, and it will still lose money. Anyway, I just got off the phone with someone close to the sales dept. Don't expect SH&E to have a better schedule this winter. Let us face it, coming from the U.S. does not mean you know more about the markets than the people who have been working and monitoring the trends at GF for years. For example, I was told that SH&E was planning a daily trip from BAH to AMM, BEY and DAM in Winter!! A monkey would know there is no such demand to warrant this amount of frequencies (summer yes, but not winter). Going to NBO with an A320 is an interesting one (I think there is a payload restriction with that, so it will never make it). Same issue with going to MNL with a 763 (payload restrictions). Another example that was given to me was bilaterals. In one case, SH&E are planning 19 flights to CAI, when bilaterals say GF are allowed 13 only! So, don't put to much hope in SH&E yet. Oh by the way, expect more intra-gulf frequencies with wide-bodies aircraft too (for example. BAH-DMM-BAH in A330!!). Good luck guys.
