Slot sitter initially as they needed to deduplicate a lot of flying that both BA and BMI undertook. It might stay but I suspect it can only be viable with a morning southbound into LHR.
Disagree, why start a whole new route (and it is new for BA, before it was a BD route) just to slot-sit. From a commercial and common sense point of view, there is a better way to slot-sit. It is to have extra frequencies on existing domestic and near abroad routes that incur no new costs and can be withdrawn when necessary without distress to pax.
It'll go when they need the slots at LHR for long haul
TBH the train is just as fast to Central London
BA has adequate slots for longhaul, need suitable aircraft. These are becoming available, and new longhaul routes are starting. What they will need is feeding from shorthaul flights, so do not expect that LHR-LBA will be dropped.
Clearly the train
is just as fast to
central London, but not all pax are headed for central London. For those headed to the Thames Valley and other parts in the south east, or flying elsewhere from LHR, LBA-LHR presents the best option.