A good % of NCL a departures are by LCCs so why do they bother if they don't make them money?
Newcastle Airport try to keep a balance of 1/3 each Business, Leisure, (Thomson, T. Cook etc..) & LCC. Some LCC bring more revenue than others in respect of paying charges, where others pay very little expecting the airport to value retail & catering trade from their passengers (I attended a talk given by the airport financial director to a business forum about 2 years ago, where this info was given) Charges/Payments for landing & use of facilities and airport handling services will vary per operator, as part of their negotiations whether to serve Newcastle or not. Note: Ryanair's lack of volume presence. Guess it's striking the right balance.
Braathens, Caledonian, Airtours - all no longer operating.
Well they do! Braathens merged with SAS in 2001, and as a result of the merger BU gave up their routes to Oslo, Stavanger & Bergen due to competition rules as they would in effect have a monopoly on the Norwegian network
Caledonian (CKT) and Airtours (AIH) are now Thomas Cook