My personal view is that short haul will inevitably become lower cost over the coming years. Sure, you canīt do anything about the fees and costs of operating from Heathrow itself, but if easyJet can turn around a 320 in 40 minutes by removing the cleaners from the operation then why canīt anyone else? They are even about to trial allocated seating.
Its obvious where the savings will come from. Mixed fleet (already done), cleaners, turnaround times, one class of travel (aka more seats on board)..catering on the shorter sectors... the list goes on.
This is just the natural evolution of the aviation sector.