Quote: “Frank
Do you think BA would agree to serve all those UK airports for say 10 years if they got the extra runway (s) at LHR?
they'd really strengthen their case politically
But of course they won't - what they want is more interlining long haul passengers”
Don’t want to repeat the point made by Skipness, but the extra longhaul interlining pax have to come from somewhere, and domestic connectivity adds to the longhaul-to-longhaul potential. With adequate slots available, as there would be with 3-4 rwys, they could do both.
Quote: “Remember, the taxpayer subsidises the “privatised” rail industry far more than what it did when BR was ever around, in fact “renationalisation” would mean more of the money will be going to towards the railways rather than waste and dividends”
Not an answer to the question unfortunately, just an irrelevant (but accurate) fact about another industry.
Quote: “When you mean “Europe’s five major hubs” do you mean LHR, AMS, CDG, FRA and MUC?”
Correct for the first four, they are relatively close to each other. Further away is the fifth, MAD.
Quote: “Because they lack OW partners in Asia and Africa, they would have to do agreements with non-OW (including *A and ST members) airlines, it would not be the first time it had done this (they already do it with EI) and their “partners” Qantas have also do this as well”
Yes, all carriers do this as a matter of course. BTW EI was in Oneworld.
Quote: “Why do you suggest that either Doncaster-Sheffield OR Humberside is viable?”
Don’t think there would be enough business for both (or even either) as HUY and DSA are fairly close to eachother and both airports do not have good road/rail links with the towns of the area.
Quote: “Also BA does have the aircraft suitable for the thinnest of routes, when I mean “BA” however, I mean BA CityFlyer who have E170s and E190s available, not only that, but they wet-lease a Saab 2000 for the LCY-IOM route from Eastern Airways
If a E-jet is too big for the route to be viable, then perhaps BA could
wet-lease a turboprop from either Eastern Airways or Flybe (with BA livery, FF and interlining) to do the job (either a Saab 2000 or a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400)
“Commuter Flights” (I would prefer to call them “Intercity Flights”) out of LHR/LGW/LCY (preferably the latter) could work, but only if the oil price remains stable ($100-110 per barrel) and rail fares continue to rise at the rate it currently is doing for a extended period, then we might see London-Birmingham/Cardiff (and a lot more) again, if BA CityFlyer operated these routes, it could turn out to be quite lucrative…”
As mentioned before, with 3-4 rwys and more terminal capacity, anything becomes possible at LHR. The problem is convincing the politicians…………
BA is not the only UK carrier. It may be more cost-effective to collaborate with other carriers who have experience of thin routes, who can say?
Quote: “In fact of LHR gains at least 2 runways, (with all the full-service carries at LGW moving to LHR along with U2’s LGW/LTN/STN ops), it would leave Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, quite empty, certainly no need for a 2nd runway at LGW”
Indeed, but only if LHR can get 2 more rwys before LGW needs a second.
Quote: “Well I got the figure from LH’s presence in FRA and I got this from the various news reports (and Airliners.net forums) in relation to the BA/BMI deal (any idea on getting the actual figures for AMS/CDG/ORY and FRA/MUC/DUS/BER/ZRH/GVA/VIE?)
What I am saying is that this is the highest figure from one airline in a major hub airport in Europe, which the EU has not issue with, otherwise it would be insisting on a sale of some of those slots…”
Thought so, pure conjecture about the 70% slot limit at any particular airport, and nothing of substance. Let’s put this one to bed.
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 6th Jan 2013 at 00:10.