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.
Yes - to free up slots for routes that bmi could make more money from - isn't that what a commercial airline should be doing, they're not a social service (and wasn't the court case against bmibaby - how does the bmi LHR route come into it?)
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.
So why aren't TOM offering more flights to more places if they're making so much money at MME? Look at the arrivals/departure board - are all the airlines not listed there wrong or is it all the fault of Peel/ONE/Uncle Tom Cobley?