It is not a matter of 'being thankful' for having a 'semblance of service' on a route. I simply don't wish to see the incumbent driven off the route when a 'preferred-by-some' carrier enters the market later on. It is rather a desire for sustainable expansion on all the routes across MAN's portfolio, rather than facing any repeat of the scenarios seen on routes to Berlin and Madrid over recent years. Boom and bust expansion does not benefit MAN in the long term.
In the case of the MAN-VIE route specifically, I can see Jet2 and Austrian co-existing successfully as (like you say) Jet2 attracts a certain niche leisure market. I hope they are able to continue to prosper in this regard if/when competition emerges on the route.
On your general point regarding the growing economy I have to sound a note of caution. I know ... nobody wants to think about this, and we're all being fed 'feelgood' vibes as election season approaches. But the UK's growth is particularly driven by debt rather than wealth creation, so we can't be complacent going forward. The currency markets are quite volatile at this point and low oil prices, whilst offering a short-term windfall for the airline industry, don't bode well for the health of the global economy. Bellweather hard commodities such as copper are ploughing multi-year lows. The Baltic Dry Index is especially low. I know that I'll quickly attract the "glass half full" digs at this point, but we mustn't let the recent (very welcome) rash of new route announcements loosen our grasp on economic reality. January / February is always peak season for new route press releases. The pace will subside.
Whilst Summer 2015 is set to deliver plenty of positives, MAN's setbacks are more substantial than many suppose because they're concentrated amongst so few names. The Monarch cutbacks are significant - MAN's worst hit for quite some time. Between Virgin Little Red and BA we're losing 4-5 A320's per day on LHR, and some smaller miscellaneous routes have quietly faded away as well. The Ryanair expansion which I was hoping would offset much of this deficit now appears to be stalled with 7 based looking like the S15 fleet (same as last year). Whilst there is the odd new RYR service, their plateauing at MAN would be a major concern particularly if driven by T3 capacity constraints. Our anticipated terminal upgrades will take a long time (years?) to deliver. So when will Ryanair be in a position to resume ambitious expansion at MAN?
I'm also hearing that another very long-established MAN carrier is set to exit after many years, final confirmation awaited. The net result is that if you compare actual Summer 2014 and Summer 2015 capacity ex-MAN the net difference is much less than all the good news stories here have led folks to believe. Route losses never attract the same publicity as
PR-accompanied launches. This coming Summer will hopefully see MAN passenger stats remain steady in the 'plus column' but it won't be 'soaraway growth'. SUSTAINABILITY across the portfolio of routes ex-MAN is paramount in this climate. Nurture the gains and be prepared for the next storm to hit. A gung-ho attitude of picking and choosing which carriers we want to see succeed on a route would be seriously counterproductive.