A someone with a rather small brain, I'm slightly puzzled as to the great importance of the air route from Plymouth to Gatwick.
Playing devil's advocate, apart from competition to keep FGW from getting too slack, could someone explain why there needs to be air service to predominantly O&D Gatwick (as opposed to a connection hub like Heathrow) instead of just the hourly train to Paddington taking a little over 3 hours ?
Who are the core customer groups, and how bad would the train be by comparison ? I'm not saying the route should close - just want to see someone make a well argued case as to why it's needed.
Note - I know that everyone has in the past had a trip with a heavily delayed train, but planes can be heavily delayed as well - I'd like to keep the discussion general rather than hearing about what happened to you one day 10 years ago.