Hmm let's see. The clue is obviously in "long established".
My first thought too was SQ, but quickly ruled out as I recall reading somewhere their freight loads alone from MAN justify the extension from Munich, and anything upstairs is a bonus. Also would be strange timing for them to retreat at the same time as Little Red disappearing - how would they feed their LHR flights ? Anyway, Shed says it's not SQ so we can move on.
From time to time PK have been rumoured to be moving their transit flights elsewhere, but that's now only 2pw JFK out of (I think) 9pw flights in total, so wouldn't constitute a total pull out. You would have to think the size of the Pakistan market in the NW would justify keeping their other flights to ISB and LHE.
Delta maybe ? Replaced already by VS to ATL, but then launching a JFK flight mid year so can hardly see them withdrawing it again already.
So that brings us to the European legacies, most of whom are said to be losing money on short haul flights in the face of fierce competition from the LCCs. But then short haul is what feeds the long haul at their hubs. Could Star be looking at sacrificing services by one of SN, LX, LH or SK in an attempt to strengthen traffic through the other three hubs ? Would be fairly catastrophic for the one who gets the short straw if part of a UK or Europe-wide Star restructure. And the rumour of Austrian resuming to another Star hub VIE goes against this theory.
KL, AF, LH are all attempting to outsource their short haul flying to lower cost operators to varying degrees. So could "long established" mean replacement of a legacy by one it's younger and leaner offspring ??
Or could it be a freight operator eg LH Cargo ? They certainly qualify as long established, and have reduced service lately.
C'mon Shed give us another clue
Long haul or short haul ?? Full service or low cost ??