Swing78 it is a great shame and you do make a valid point about MAN but unfortunately I think Management at certain airlines know that they can't take a risk on long-haul direct services to certain regions. With the huge demand on the middle east routes (DXB, DOH, AUH), they know that most pax are more likely to go via there because it has a good reputation and it's reliable. Unless the new DCT services can take a large proportion of the passengers away from going via these airports, it would never be viable in the eyes of those airlines especially in this current economy.