Granted, Poland, Czech Rep, Slovakia, Hungary, the Baltic 3 and the former Yugoslavia have relatively few long haul flights given the number of people who live there. Let us suppose for the moment there is a pent-up demand for long haul flying from these countries. Let us also suppose that there is significant London-E. Europe demand which doesn't already use or doesn't want to use Wizzair from LTN (169 flights per week from LTN in May 2012 excluding beach cities) or Ryanair from STN.
For someone living in a large city in central / east Europe, what advantage would a combined bmi / Virgin have compared to AF-KL or LH ? AF and LH groups already have more routess at a higher frequency currently in place than VS-BD would ever manage, and neither MUC, FRA, PAR or AMS is exactly short of long haul flights. Flying from eastern Europe to major airports in Asia via LHR is pointless compared to flying via MUC / FRA - adds an hour flying time each way. If VS-BD were to try to serve the eastern Europe - transatlantic market, I suspect LH+LX+OS / AF-KL would just walk all over them.
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 13th Dec 2011 at 23:55.