Davies Commission
One for you Bagso. You've evidently read Davies in some detail, which is more than I have.
Was Davies really so dismissive of long haul services from regional airports on environmental grounds? And was this in the context just of O&D routes or also including point-to-hub, which is what MAN mainly does? I'm not sure what percentage of pax to EWR or JFK are connecting there, but they may be destinations that do have a fair proportion of O & D, along with Orlando and Toronto, but I suspect they are not the norm.
If this was his view, I hope Davies wasn't conned into thinking, or assumed, that such flights from MAN are usually less than half full with no pax up front, whereas flights from LHR must be full because the airport is all but at capacity in movements. And if he did make such a claim, I would like to think MAN
responded in strong terms to such an assertion. Do we know if they have?
Certainly a question for the speaker at TAS in a couple of weeks.
As to 'environmental grounds', as others have already questioned, how will more flights from regional airports to LHR to support the hub help the environment.