LUGANO
I note that Swiss currently sell a 4x daily round trips route between their hub in Zurich and Lugano in the far south of Switzerland, operated by Darwin Air, but with an LX flight code, Darwin being just the hired in charter. I note also that Darwin sell and operate a Lugano-Geneva route under their own brand.
I note also that Darwin have substantially rebranded as the regional carrier of an airline based in Abu Dhabi, and about 30% of Darwin's shares are held by the same Abu Dhabi airline
I don't want to get into a debate specifically about Darwin's rebrand but instead keep this about Lugano.
I note that Swiss recently announced the Lugano-Zurich route will end in October 2014, with a comment from Swiss that they were unhappy about using a rival airline to provide their feed - quite understandable IMHO. Is this just a mask for a route that was severely underperforming, or based heavily on genuine commercial branding concerns ? KLM's former Amsterdam-Maastricht route comes to mind here
If this route closes in Oct14, does this airport still have a future with scheduled passenger ops ? I'm thinking in particular about the new Gotthard tunnel to open in 2017.
Finally, I note that Lugano is a very long way by land from Milan, Zurich or Geneva airports - takes ages by land. Have Stobart Air considered a Southend-Lugano route ? Skywork operate a double daily London City-Bern on a Dornier-328 prop. Yes, I know Skywork have seen their ups and downs with their finances. Lugano has a *lot* of private banks, with some very rich people stashing their cash in the city.