New Routes
The simplest and best response I can give you Oxy is that if a new route would work somewhere, the chances are someone would be running it.
There are many routes, like the ones you suggest, that would take many passengers. A hub flight to London would carry passengers; as would Paris or Frankfurt - so I don't doubt your theory. The problem is I doubt any of the routes could be flown profitably; i.e. either not enough passengers or not enough paying a decent rate to make money for the airline. And there in lies the problem.
You have to come up with a route that could generate enough cash to ensure the flight is profitable...or actually more profitable than if the airline used it elsewhere.
The closest thing in my opinion that would work is a series of bucket & spade routes, but as airlines have consolidated to the bigger airports and as costs have increased, this has become less attractive to the airlines. If I was to be really blue sky - for it to work today I think you would need an airline with an intergrated travel company, that is local and focussed on the area (like Bath Travel and BOH) that has a small, efficient 100 seater plane that could fly to a handful of popular European hotspot holiday destinations. That is the best I can come up with I'm afraid and even this suggestion would be frought with risks and wouldn't be a guaranteed sucess.