ww - VIR's LHR-MAN route was never set up to compete with the train. It was set up to feed long-haul connecting flights as explained earlier, and the airline fully comprehends the economics involved. If point-to-point business shows up in any volume VIR will welcome it, but it is purely icing on the cake. This service is all about long-haul connectivity. In terms of the costs of running the route, what will interest Virgin is the revenues protected onto long-haul connections which would otherwise be lost to rival carriers. A loss-leader to LHR is fine if the customer then pays for onward sectors to LAX, SYD, HKG etc. MAN has a long history of providing substantial feed onto LHR long-hauls. Operator Virgin Little Red may be new but the route itself is not.