andrewmcharlton
New York is not going to happen anytime soon and Frankfurt is desirable but has slot limitations according to my mate at Lufthansa.
Not quite correct, :-
New York is not going to happen FULL STOP !
+
..Frankfurt is desirable but has slot limitations...Yeh!, Yeh!, Yeh!!! really? & do you think that if an airline came calling to FRA offering further destinations in say China, they would be fobbed off with "slot limitations", this is the standard convenient excuse
(load of b
cks) which would no doubt exist even if FRA opened a further dozen new runways!
The reality is that ecconomic conditions in the North East and the spin off on living standards & disposable income are always going to be refelected in destinations & service levels offered when dealing with airlines becoming ever more risk averse.
As for forecasts then I learned many years ago the folly of relying on forecasts, which depending on source & views of the forecaster (political
, or otherwise) can be very subjective indeed.
NCL has I fear got to live with the fact that days of annual pax figures of 5M+ are gone, & it would be a folly to forecast otherwise. Comparing with other airports such as EMA is irrelevant as what you are looking at outside London is demographic movement of pax switching from other airports as much as any actual growth in the region.
As sad as it may be the deteriorating position at DTV offers no remission to NCL, those pax having necessarily made alternate arrangements years since.