Quote-
"But surely the runway extension will offer the opportunity for greater payloads i.e additional freight, thereby supporting route viability."
Exactly! And the runway extension enables flights of in-excess of 9hrs+.
Ok, so we have TK, EK, PK, T5 and now AI heading east which is great, what about heading west or south?
I'm only talking scheduled flights here but we only have CO and summer only TS transatlantic so surely there's scope to expand on this? IMO the 787 is the perfect aeroplane to serve BHX with long haul routes, so which destinations would be realistic? Mine would be ORD, ATL, YVR or LAX purely for connections.
A bit of a wish list I know but why not? ORD was successful but missed out big time on the restricted freight limit due to insufficient runway length for the 763. But with 787s coming online and the extension this won't be a problem. LAX would offer alternative westbound connections to Australasia. Any thoughts?