Originally Posted by
wallp
Why this sudden flurry of interest in the Channel Islands again - what has made these routes attractive once more I wonder?
I'd love to see Isle of Man return too but question is who would take the route on? I can only think of easyJet.
Easyjet will not fill two London routes to the Isle of Man with Airbus aircraft. It would only work if they moved from Gatwick but that wouldn't be well received on the island where residents desire for a highly unlikely Heathrow return (for ego reasons as much as anything else) and accept Gatwick as a next best alternative. The majority of Flybe flights to Stansted were under half full so the route was pulled within a year. The flights to London City need to be underwritten by island-based businesses to be maintained. Gatwick and City are sufficient for a cold and wet island in the middle of the Irish Sea where there's little tourism outside of TT these days and business travel is already covered. Manchester also now takes care of a large percentage of the long haul needs for Isle of Man residents - the London market doesn't have any/much potential for expansion from IoM.