Quote (the SSK):
Theirs is a highly distortive business model and I fear the worst.
Might not be a massive factor, but one thing that definitely was distortive was Newcastle Airport's trumpeting of arrival of EK as if it was providing links to places that were previously unserved from NCL. I remember statements about how you can 'now' fly to Thailand , Japan, China etc from NCL, and thinking that BA,KL,AF can't be too happy to hear that as they had being going there one-stop from NCL for decades.
The result being that, even now, when a lot of people want to go from NCL to BKK for example, the 1st website they will go to will be EK's.
While we are on the subject of airport spokespeople talking out of their arse, I also remember in the same era a member of NCL's press team talking about Bulgaria as an 'exciting new destination' or some such bull, because Thomson or TCX had just started flying there. I remember going to NCL on a Saturday morning to see the Balkan Tu154 when I was about 8! (now 40!!).
(and the TAROM Tu154 round about the same time, them were the days
)