I do see your point davidjohnson6 although the reasons for SOU being a viable route for LH are detailed in both Rivet Joint's and my own posts:
-Hub connectivity - currently only a KLM codeshare from SOU whereas the other airports have links to at least 2 other uk/european hubs each.
-Flybe's route had fairly good loads despite only 1 daily flight which was/is poorly timed for business travellers.
-Strong Military links between Southampton/South Coast and Germany (Remember the AB Paderborn route?)
-Reasonable O&D traffic between the two cities (Leisure pax to FRA and SOU, plenty of cruise pax come from Germany, Language Schools/Foreign Exchanges, Business pax - Frankfurt is a major financial citiy)
So from this although SOU is smaller than the airports mentioned it has plenty of good reasons why it could support such a route and also neither of the other cities have had a route to FRA running in the last few years (BRS is probably the last of them in 2009) whereas Flybe have maintained their poorly timed flight from SOU for quite some time further showing that a LH route could work well.
Last edited by adfly; 13th Jul 2012 at 19:59.