"Government will also take all necessary steps including, where appropriate,
ring-fencing a suitable proportion of new slots for domestic routes, to ensure enhanced connectivity within the UK."
This is the crucial one for me, manage the market forces and keep the UK connected.
I'm sure someone can tell us how many flights to the States EDI and GLA combined had this last summer.
Eight from memory, excluding Air Transat and Air Canada Rouge.
It's highly seasonal, in winter GLA has one (almost) daily New York EWR and EDI is daily.
-- Edited as DL operated EDI-JFK in winter too.
Summer sees :
GLA-EWR UA
GLA-PHL AA
GLA-JFK DL (new 2017)
EDI EWR x 2 UA
EDI-ORD UA
EDI-JFK DL
EDI-JFK AA
So business can support one daily connection and summer holidays drive a lot more which business can then use.