I would have thought most long-haul new opportunities would sensibly wait until the 787 arrives, this being a more practical-sized aircraft for new startups; the 777 seems too big.
However, for all the hype about new opportunities being lost for additional routes to China etc, a further key bottleneck would seem to be the Foreign Office attitude to granting visas, which are apparently much more difficult to get fo the UK than for Schengen. For other European countries, the ability to move around them freely is a great bonus for those coming from visa countries; the UK is of course outside this.