Simon,
With all due respect if BE can't make a Q400 operation work they how on god's earth is any operator going to make a twice daily A319 operation work?
Going back in time, BMA then Brymon operated, twice daily, a Y50 HPR7 of which I recall load factors in the region of 67%.
Thereafter Brymon, then BA, then ASW combined Y50 operations with PLH effectly reducing NQY to Y25 operations but increased the frequency of services to three or more per day, if three then Y75, if four then Y100 per day ... nowhere even close to filling even a once a day A319.
And the reason behind increasing frequency of services is because not everybody wants to be setting their alarm clock for stupid o'clock to catch the 0700 departure nor does everybody want to be kicking their heels waiting until a 1700 departure when they could get up at a reasonable hour and be in London or wherever, by other means of transport, earlier than the 1700 departure would get them there.
What's needed is fewer seats but more often per day, something like a Do328 or SF340 morning and evening before increasing frequencies to three or four rotations daily, operate at the times the customers want to travel and to hell with your big shiny jets!
Skipness,
It's not about changing ... Back in the day there were up to 4 or 5 slots per day from PLH and NQY to/from LHR, departures from PLH/NQY around 0700 and 1700 and then a middle of the day service.
But then the World's favourite airline came along, and as they did with the Isle of Man, they effectively robbed Devon and Cornwall of their LHR slots for the purpose of lining their own shareholders pockets and now it is proposed that the British taxpayer fork out as a result.
P.S. And I don't need a market analyst to tell me when something stinks, I can smell it for myself.
