I suppose the bean counters in Lingus-Towers are offsetting any revenue gained on a direct US west coast flight against the transfer/loss of revenue on services to primairly LHR, JFK or ORD that the new service would cause due to the transfer/loss of interlining pax on those routes.
Pitty, as a former semi-regular on the LAX service from its inception up to around 2006, the load factors always seemed quite healthy.
JAS