AirportPlanner1
But what if something came along that was a game-changer?
You are absolutely right - something might.
However, in corporate life, events actually move more slowly. From first flight to being the mainstream, how long did these take to gestate to maturity?
- Boeing 747 in 1970
- Southwest Airlines started operating in 1971
- Boeing 767 in 1982
- RyanAir adopted their current policy (LCC) in 1986
- Internet: began to be open to the public from the early 1990s
It is generally thought that the 'next big thing' is visible some 10 years before it is reported as being the next big thing. So - what is just starting out now? What new little gem is being quietly polished now - to burst upon the stage?
Given the hideous amounts of money imnvolved in changing regulations for aircraft operations and airports - or the cost of developing new equipment, we can be sure that that wil not happen for some times.
I agree that if some LCCs go full time for interlining etc that WILL be a change. But, not all of them will do it and it would only be a return to form of the way the legacies have operated from the start. Some LCCs want to graduate to being 'the big boys' but most of them don't because they have made their money as LCCs and seen the legacies lose money.
In my view, the UK is small and continuing to reduce in global influence and trade and demand is not going to increase dramatically in that route. Meantime, the M4 corridor and companies who have based themselves around LHR - will continue but
not expand and certainly not until this wretchedy stupid right wing 'lets cut ourselves off from Europe' things is past. That is another story but, having it loom will freeze many things and, even if we get the yes vote - another set of years will have passed and more confidence ebbed and more chances lost.
Lastly, I spent 27 years working in corporates, both British and international. The one thing I saw more than anything else was 'caution'. The companies that really rock the boat? They are very few and very far between. Since the crash of 2008 (whose effects we shall be feeling for at least another five years) not many companies want to try something new.
Ergo - I think that nothing will happen.