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Old 22nd Jun 2009, 17:51
  #236 (permalink)  
CarltonBrowne the FO
 
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My guess is that regional will stay part of the picture; quite aside from the fact that they have been generally profitable for the last few years, they allow some of the routes we have to keep doing (LHR-ABZ for instance) to be self-supporting, rather than a net loss if an A319 is used.
I am less sanguine about the future of baby. There is a chance they may be kept (Lufthansa also owns the name "BritishWings") but I would doubt if they would keep the name- they also need some newer aircraft.
It is worth noticing that there is no Star Alliance presence on one of the busiest longhaul routes in the world; LHR-New York. Admittedly, the competition on that route is intense right now- to the point that no one is making money on it, but Lufthansa has always been good at the long game.
All the above is entirely hypothetical- for all the actual hard information we have, LH may plan to use those slots to send bizjets to LHR carrying the board's wives to shop in Harrods (remember, you heard that here first).
It is shaping up to be an interesting summer...
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