''VIRGIN seems to survive without a shorthaul network to feed its routes''.
Having once worked for them, I would say that Virgin has survived despite the lack of a shorthaul network. They have always commented that their business model is different and that they don't need one, but they are limiting themselves to a restricted market - and I'm convinced it has hurt them in the past. What they should have done may years ago is tied up with BMI to create a more flexible network - then they would have created a more credible threat to BA's market share. But the antipathy betwwen Branson and Bishop made that scenario an impossibility.
I now work for a regional airline in Asia which was bought five years ago by it's larger longhaul neighbour. What the longhaul operator got was a network of feeder route in a very lucrative market for it and it's One World partners, including BA. Recently, I flew the CEO of the group on the jumpseat. I asked him if they knew how much value the aquisition of our airline had added to the bottom line. He mentioned that due to the ticket structuring, the actual increase in revenue was nealry impossible to calculate accurately, but there was no doubt that the aquisition was very important, which is why they paid twice the market value for us. A company ignores feeding it's long haul routes at their peril.
Sorry for the thread drift. Good luck guys and gals.