Of course Rutan16 is right this is political and nothing to do with taking the service forward otherwise the 77W would appear on the direct Delhi legs or a higher frequency secured although interestingly a poster on another thread stated bi-laterals would need to be sorted (no idea).
Anyway lets have a look at the service as some very interesting and in some cases myth-busting stats. Sorry about the format but I lost patience
.......Sept......................August...............July.. ............June...............May
ATQ....6551.(6141).....6679.(6250)......6109..4529)......606 7.(3975)....7192.(5084)
DEL....7237.(6218).....6020.(6484)......6781.(6433).....6461 .(4517)......4835.(2970)
Total.13788.(12539)...12699.(12734)...12899.(10962)...12528 (8492)....12027 (8054)
Average... 230. 90%........205...80%.........208..81%.........209.....82%... ..194...76%
May and June the typical basket cases for loads going east were well up nearly 50% in May. Obviously what we don't know is at what cost in terms of fares on offer were promoted in order to obtain these significant increases.
What we do know Turkmenistan upped their frequency in the same period and logic dictates there has been a fare war although I have no proof.
What the September figures show (assuming not a one-off) that rearranging the deck-chairs is probably pointless in commercial terms and just further proof in my opinion that this is political.
Air India have a few more 77W's due although I believe the 788's are almost all here? I am sure AI would not want a 77W tag Delhi - Amritsar but something by the way an increase must be fast approaching if they want the service to progress otherwise Turkmen will be happy and it seems Uzbek could also be back on the table.
And for ATNotts... it is difficult not to mention competition from other UK airports but I will leave that to User001...oops LAX_LHR although I think that has been adequately covered on the Manchester thread.....and BHX threads on other forums
