interestedparty
As one of those "teenagers with failed O levels in Domestic Science!" (which is of course not a criticism) I can now at least appreciate that you are well aware of certain things that go on within aviation, as you mention you used to sit at the sharp end.
As you correctly mentioned, flights to and from CDG from BRS, are notorious for there ATC delays. The annoying point from when I used to be one of those teenagers, was that only 1 hour later, a BritAir (Air France Franchisee) used to operate to CDG, using the same routing, flight levels, and similar speed. So why did they always have an unrestricted departure to CDG. I would'nt want to think that there was some form of preference in and out of CDG for French carriers, but it does make you think this when what ever was done, nothing avoided being hit with minimum delays of 40mins. The majority of these delays are arrival restrictions into CDG, and therefore routing changes are irrelevant.
Anyone who works for a "Full Service" carrier, certainly appreciates which client is classed as the "bread and butter" of the airline, and in BACX's (Brymon) case, they certainly know who is important. This may be difficult to see at the moment, due to the immense changes taking place throughout the organisation, which does'nt exactly encourage the staff to go out of the way for the company, but they do value each and every passenger that passes through BRS.
You mention AF having the right equipment to handle the weather at BRS. In my opinion they always have. Remember BRS has only been CATII for a short period, so prior to that, everyone was in the same boat. Brymon's only advantage back in the days of Britair, was crew's famililarity with the surrounding area. I truely believe that AF will dissappear as they have in the past.
As for the management? Well that is another story. I have no respect for them, and treat them all with contempt they deserve. BA's biggest mistake was allowing control of a very large regional operator, to be passed to people whom had no previous BA management experience. Brymon was run by primarily BA personnel, with only a few original Brymon members from the Pre BA days. Although BRAL/MANX was clearly a well run company prior to the merge, the management were not equipped to deal with the issue's that have been presented by the bringing together of a wholly owned subsidery, and a franchise operator. It will change in time, but when, only Big Rod can answer.
AOG007