Reply to Olton Pete.
I'm being a little bit realistic but perhaps in the light of other regional withdrawals' of services by American Airlines ( I was a regular user of AA23/24), perhaps the "Global Reach aspirations of the Company Management" need to strategically re assessed.
I have a personal emotional attachment to the development of the airport but .... its starting to look like a Long/Medium haul Elephant's graveyard without the Elephant's.
As a business: (again speaking as an outsider) perhaps a Mid-land’s Gatwick is a more realistic ambition. Ultimately it comes down to wealth distribution of the catchment area, combined with the related; broad statistical measure of "propensity to travel"
I speak from direct (non armchair) experience as a AA long haul traveller from BHX. Not a spotter. Now in Cambridge.
CAT III