Re CX:
I suspect they have other more profitable expansions ahead of MAN that's all.
Although it was rumoured that MAN would be one of the first A350 destinations, comments on other forums about CX expansion plans might suggest that MAN has gone down in the pecking order. There is also talk of CX returning to LGW with a A350-900, (as there is of LGW getting a 4th daily EK flight in the immediate future rather than MAN). Whether there is substance in all that we shall have to wait and see.
There has certainly been no shortage of passengers on our CX services with LFs of between the low 80's and 96% but we don't know what yields are like.
It would also be interesting to know the final destination or origin of those pax and the proportion attributable to mainland China. Will Hainan and Air China have much impact on CX, or are the latter's pax more related to Australasia or other parts of the Far East? And is one of the main benefits of new non-stop services to generate new business that would otherwise not use MAN?