Good points Akerosid.
I believe it would be slightly more attractive for european carriers to try for transcontinential US flights because the equipment, etc would be the same (remember JFK to LAX is a few thousand miles) but it would be a long time to turn a profit on this, if ever, because the competition would be so stiff. Historically these flights are the best deals.
Intra european routes being relatively shorter haul are more suitable for locally based carriers. I would think beyond rights and some cream skimming would be the best a US carrier could do and few of them are in the financial or business plan position to do this or want to do this in the forseeable future. TWA had an intraeuropean service for years and I believe Pan Am did too. As I recall they did alright but did not make lots of money at it and it was a regulatory and maintenance hassle to base the aircraft and crews there.
Where things appear to be mostunderserved with reasonably priced service in the US is short haul (out to about 300 miles) to less major airports. To give an idea of the market in the US the 100th busiest airport in terms of passenger emplanements in 2000 was Harrisburg Pennsylvania with about 600,000 pax. It is a state capital but in terms of pax air transportation definately second tier at most. Fares tend to be astronomical (I can fly to London round trip less expensively than one way to Spartanburg South Carolina). If somebody can do the "second tier" service economically and offer good fares and still make a profit that is where the profitable growth is in the US market, and from a distances and passenger density point of view it looks almost european. Are there lessons to be learned here by US carriers or can divisions/subsidiaries of european carriers bring in a suitable business model?
FOR MODERATOR: The way this thread is going would it be more appropriate in Aircrew Notices?