Originally Posted by
EI-BUD
Interesting comments given that BA has cut all non London international routes from UK.... Would be nice if BA looked at some of them again.
BA lost packets of money operating direct from the provinces, and that was in the days of less competition. There isn't a market for them to run daily (which is what you need) from Manchester to Dubai or Singapore, as that would be just point to point for them. Quite different for those who are hubbed at those places, and can offer good high frequency. A small proportion get off there, the majority connect on to myriad other destinations.
Look at, say, Nice in France, land of protectionism, and indeed great support by the population for their own products. Not a single mainstream Air France flight any more other than to their hub in Paris. Some AF-badged flights on their FlyBe-equivalent commuter operators to selected other European points, but nothing French to London.
BA's greatest salvation in the provinces would be to offer good and worthwhile connections from their domestic trunk routes through T5 at Heathrow. Unfortunately, BA wanting to use domestic slots for the umpteenth schedule to New York instead, BAA incompetence in organising an airport, planning permission restrictions from the T5 public enquiry, and an attitude to regulations from the DfT mandarins that cannot understand connecting passengers at all (because they all live around London and so don't do it) all conspire to make this the most connection-unfriendly airport around.