On the face of it, this doesn't have success written all over it.
BD - long gone, but not forgotten. Couldn't make money from connecting to Star "partners"
VS - Closed within moments of a sensible CEO being appointed by Delta.
EI - Were operating wet-lease, didn't fancy risking their own cash and moved the 4 A320s to Dublin.
I hope BE can make a go of it. The purple Dash-8s will be in interesting sight, if nothing else. I'd agree with the above - Heathrow might have offered them a deal they couldn't refuse - Heathrow charges are specifically set up to penalise operators using aircraft of less than 100 seats and certainly props. But the third runway is within LHRs grasp and the marketing line is connecing domestic destinations.