American @ MAN
The thread continues its comedic ability to ascribe all woes at Manchester to "unfair" competition from LHR and other nearby hubs "robbing" Manchester of its rightful long-haul services.
When AA started ORD in 1986, it was one of (I think) only two scheduled routes to the US from MAN at the time, the other being BA's then-TriStar service to JFK. There were abortive attempts to fly LAX in the early 90s with the BA 767, but for many years, it reigned supreme as *the* way to fly from MAN to pretty much any US destination.
Fast-forward 30 years and you have multiple hub options including PHL, EWR, ATL, non-stop services by the bucketload to Orlando, Vegas and even Seattle, San Fran, LAX, Boston and Houston. All of those passengers either went via the likes of LHR before - or used the only non-stop hub service to Chicago. The proliferation of non-stop services will have an inevitable effect on viability of a not-particularly-well-placed hub service to Chicago.
American is prioritising Philadelphia as a more profitable, less congested and lower cost hub than ORD. PHL has the daily A330 and no sign of ramping back as they have at ORD.
The decline of ORD is a direct function of American's corporate prioritisation of the hub at PHL (their decision, and a route well served from MAN) and the huge growth of other non-stops from MAN to US points. It's not a conspiracy about diverting traffic to LHR or DUB, and it's risible to suggest so.
If you need any further proof, just look at the latest CAA stats. MAN-USA traffic in September was up 8% versus last year with an increase of over 14,000. MAN-LHR traffic was down 11% with 6,000 fewer pax. How can anyone possibly argue that MAN-USA direct services are being cut to divert passengers via Heathrow?!!