Hey, I'm a mere passenger, not an industry insider, so I can merely deduce things, not know them for sure. I travelled twice via LHR this summer (the fares were actually LESS than ex-LTN on those days!) and there was a dearth of the usual "American accents" that usually imply connecting passengers this time around.
It was well reported that AA cancelled their codeshare with El Al a while back. But I did a quick dummy booking on AA and apparently El Al
does still carry AA pax via LHR, but it's hidden down the "Well, I suppose we
could route you via LHR if you insist" end of the booking page. BA also carries El Al pax to/from DUB, MAN, NCL, etc. etc., so I guess that puts paid to my "connecting passengers is nil" claim as there must be at least
some connections.
Whether that connecting traffic justifies the expense of running two bases, or the tens of millions they could raise selling off their slot pairs is another matter.
El Al is primarily an O&D airline and doesn't really "do" connections, plus it has a very loyal customer base that will follow the airline wherever it chooses to fly to, within reason. As I said, pax seem happy with LTN in general, despite that airport's obvious failings, and if any airline can get away with abandoning LHR without shedding too many pax it would be El Al.
Yup a twice daily B744 / B777 combo sounds like a great addition to the wait at Intl Arrivals !!!
Very funny!
I did suggest that none of this would happen until the terminal redevelopment was completed. As an optimist, I had imagined that this would ultimately fix the grottiness of the terminal, eliminate the shambles of security and immigration and magically solve all of the traffic and parking problems within the CTA!