I don't foresee much BA interest in MAN , which it generally views as a bucket and spade low yield regional
Agree, always been a problem with BA, despite there historically being a very high concentration of top tier Executive Club members in the leafier suburbs of Cheshire and elsewhere. Maybe BA just compare everywhere else with West London and surrounds, rather than on its own merits. As a group IAG do however seem to be becoming a lot more adventurous these days, as capacity in the SE fills up. Certainly the AA product ex MAN has been extremely shabby the last several years, and probably hasn't met the expectations of many BA codeshare customers.
I would guess any westbound expansion is already maxxed out
Agree again, the last thing we need right now is another BA branded "beach fleet" landing on us, only to retreat back to the SE after torpedoing the competition.
Tried CX myself a couple of times and found them to pretty good tbh, although not quite as good as some of their competition going east. They certainly don't seem to have any problem filling their flights. Maybe the move in June to a 5th service and the A350 will bring us one step closer to the holy grail of a daily service.