SEN/ANR
I was musing on this - does seems odd with WX established on LCY/ANR. However, there are a few pro's:
(i) charges at SEN likely to be lower = lower fares.
(ii) much of the steady market on this route is from the Jewish community in north east and east London and the banking/oil companies in Canary Wharf = easy connections to Southend Airport via Stratford
(iii) no large airports involved, ANR takes all of 5 mins to get out of the terminal = ease of use (once tried)
(iv) no direct competition from Eurostar, nor likely to be for some time, connecting trains at Brussel Zuid to Antwerp can take longer than the flight time SEN/ANR = no hauling luggage around
(v) CityJet/VLMs fleet of F50s are already pretty vintage and approaching retirement and I'm not clear about their fleet replacement = competition could be heading for dustbin anyway
(vi) anything larger than a turboprop is pretty much restricted from ANR = no additional competition
So, given that LON-ANR has been around for years in various guises (as an Anglo-Belgian family we've flown Gatwick with BCal Commuter, Air Europe Express, CityFlyer Express, Heathrow with DAT/SABENA, City with VLM/CityJet), this clearly is a niche route with steady demand. Could work..... Anyway, will be buying a ticket when they go on sale and go and see family and try it out. Good luck to this route and all the others.