Re Emirates. They would be most welcome. Though the current level of capacity ex Dublin to the middle east is working due to the sheer level of emigration to Australian/NZ etc. Not confident that there going to be demand to this extent ongoing.
On a separate note flew Belfast London Southend today, 126 pax onboard. Crew said numbers good across the routes. It appeared busy. I was sceptical about SEN but I think the airport will do ok. I hope the BFS route is a success. Was interesting that the majority of accents seemed to be English. Point being maybe not as many NI based pax switched on to SEN. Hence, may be the local catchment who use the airport more than inbound travellers. Of the pax I spoke to they said they chose SEN as it was more convenient than STN. I had a strong sense that STN will lose some pax. Unlikely the market will grow overall significantly as a result of an additional London gateway. I think we will see a like for like shift in pax from both Belfast stansted routes to southend Belfast route.
Ei-bud