The perception on Teesside is that ONE was a purely Newcastle based enterprise which would dole out small amounts of aid to the south of the region on a grudging basis. Whether this is true or not is a matter for which set of statistics you believe. Personally I believe there are lies damn lies and statistics so I am happy to go with the perception.
The Heathrow route was pulled not as purely yield based commercial decision but to free up slots at Heathrow. The Court case against BMI tends to support this.
ONE has always promoted NCL over MME for purely selfish reasons that it was the airport that the board members of ONE used on their junkets alledgedly.
Lack of demand?.... Ask Thomson what their yields are for the Winter season for ALC and TFS. The demand is there if the routes are on offer. Ryan and Wizz had routes to Warsaw and Dublin. Hardly repeat visit cities even in the best of times.
Peel took their eye off the ball at Teesside and tried to promote it as a business man's airport and Loco hub. What they got was routes that nobody wanted to fly and the bread and butter charter companies moved out because they were being treated like poor relations.
Hopefully Peel have learned their lesson and will now edge forward with a well thought out and realistic plan rather than pie in the sky.Hopefully they will also employ someone who actually knows what he/she is doing this time.