Silvertop,
This is a difficult one to answer. AirSouthwest's operation was so small, so one could make the assumption that the unit costs were significantly high, hence a bigger operation with lower costs may have had a better opportunity at making an adequate return.
Ryanair on the other hand with these low costs only ran a summer seasonal route, and it wouldnt be so much as was it profitable, but more was it as profitable as some of the other popular seasonal routes ex Stansted.
My concern now would be that a NQY to London would take some time to re-establish, and given the lack of slots at LHR ,the increased costs and the lack of peak time slots at LGW, the charging for peak slots at LCY mean that any London route would most likely be an STN, SEN or LTN.
Narrow it down and look at the potential airlines through that filter we are left with:
- Easyjet
- Ryanair (ex STN, been and gone)
- Aer Lingus Regional (ex SEN, right sized aircraft, but lack there of)
I would suggest that unless we see a new carrier commuter size at NQY or easyjet putting on a flight from SEN... the possibilities are limited...
EI-BUD
(just realising that this is easyJet thread and not NQY!)