US/UK and Heathrow: what's the latest?
Just curious as to whether there was any development with regard to access to LHR. In particular, I'm curious as to why the UK chose to nominate two carriers from the UK, when there appears to be only one in a position to launch services from LHR, BMI. Why not give BMI an equal number of slots to the combined number for the two new US carriers?
Also, there appears to be a number of US cities - DFW, ATL, IAH, for example - which don't have direct access to LHR. If CO/DL get in, the latter two will presumably be moved to LHR and BA will be able to move its services to these cities across, but what about DFW. Will BA/AA be allowed to move their DFW services to LHR?
Finally, the increasingly political nature of access to LHR surely underlines the importance of the third runway at LHR. If LHR has a "full" sign over it, then it will affect the ability of British carriers to get greater access to international airports, foreign carriers being understandably unwilling to settle for LGW, STN etc.