The only possibility of seeing a regular service from Newquay to London will be when people have more wonga in their back pocket, when the economy actually goes into full swing again, at the moment it is pretty stagnant out there
.....or LHR gets more rwy capacity, but hell is likely to freeze over first.
I think you will find the original question was IF there was a subsidised route to Cornwall would it not be better to have it to LHR not LGW since twice as many people use that airport. In Simon's defence he WAS answering the original question and as he lives here I suggest he knows the scene and has never claimed to know the solution. We all have a view on what we would like to see but let us all agree once and for all what we could see?
Obviously that is the case, Simon is correct, but it would not be BA mainline, it does not have small enough aircraft. For BA to be involved, it would have to be a smaller outfit operating "on behalf of" BA, a franchise operation, a collabaration with another carrier or a code share arrangement.
But this is all academic, it ain't happening, a shame as it could be good for the likes of BE or BD regional. A NQY-LHR PSO would open the floodgates for other thin routes and get a bandwagon going: INV, DND (instead of STN), MME, IOM, BLK, JER, GCI... the list could be endless. On the other hand, politicians love bandwagon-jumping, so who knows.
There are no slots at LHR or LGW - Agreed
A LHR service is not viable on cost - Agreed
A LGW service is still unlikley to be viable on cost - Agreed
Any link needs frequency, twice daily is not enough - Hmm - 'half a loaf is better than no bread' mean anything?
There are not enough passengers to fill anything over 50 seats with frequency - Agreed; therefore Dash 8-300 would seem to fit the bill
There is nowhere else to land adjacent to LHR or LGW at this time -
Yes, it does. If the London airport was LHR, it would be needed for connecting flights. Increased frequency clearly means smaller aircraft.
Shout! What about Southend? OK, its on the 'other side' but train links into The City are as good as (if not better than) LHR, LGW, STN and LTN. No slot issues, plenty of capacity, airport management wanting (at a guess) to consolidate their growth position; great modern facilities now (new terminal extension open only last week). And Flybe are going be running that route in the summer; they operate Dash 8-300s. So how about picking up the ball out of the scrum NOW and running with it?
At LGW, or SEN for that matter, a minimum of twice daily is neccessary to allow for day trips that fits in with business needs. Are you suggesting BE and SEN all year?