Good question. On the one hand it could establish the demand for a more direct route, and to which cities. On the other, it could abstract potential PAX.

People are such creatures of habit. They have got so used to using the ME3.

EDI loses DY to BDL March 25: Bradley airport loses Norwegian Air flights to Scotland | masslive.com

APD reduction?

Sounds like it.

As if the future success of EDI to BDL was relying on a possible tax break from the Scottish government and Norwegian using that as an excuse plus APD as a cause for cancelling the route, there wasn't a decent schedule and not enough demand and therefore a lot less bums on seats.

EDI to BDL had failure written all over it the day it was first announced.

No sign of Norwegian reversing the reduction in the other 2 NAM routes, so this will mean a loss of an 737max from Edi (14 flight per week to 7). 2 aircraft to 1. With the loss of Malaga too then this is a downscaling of their ops at Edi. I wonder if this puts future plans for mid haul NAM with A321neo LR at risk, as well as jobs. Suspect this will dent growth next year at Edi unless they have some rabbits to pull out the bag on new routes.

DY @ EDI
 

I think in time Norwegian will concentrate their UK ops at LGW. They have already vacated MAN and BHX, it would seem EDI saw growth as Norwegian sniffed the scent of (alleged) tax breaks to help support routes. Now they are themselves saying these breaks haven't materialised then sadly they have scaled back their EDI ops. Hopefully they will hang on for the long term, Norwegian have always been incredibly difficult to second guess!

They haven’t vacated MAN, still operate 3 year round routes.

https://www.aviationanalytics.com/wp...7-1024x552.jpg


https://www.aviationanalytics.com/20...overstretched/
Aviation Analytics analysed Norwegian's profit per seat in 2017, on USA routes, from European airports. Edinburgh's -42euro profit per seat will explain in part the shift of transatlantic 737's away from Edinburgh.

I don't know how they did this analysis but if it is correct it reminds me of the cartoon where a boss is standing in front of a graph which shows sales or profits and in which the line has plunged off the bottom of the graph down to the floor and he is saying "Everyone stop what you're doing".

Branson hints at possible VS flights from EDI to US
 

https://www.scotsman.com/news/richar...o-us-1-4680550

ATL?

Airline route reporting that Hainan have applied to the CAAC for a 2 weekly PEK-EDI-DUBvv and 2 weekly PEK-DUB-EDIvv from July 2018.

Still waiting for Branson's promised GLA-NYC he "hinted" at when BA dropped JFK. The Bearded Billionaire has almost nothing to do with VS on a day to day basis these days. Delta already offer JFK and unless they're redeploying the AB A332s already, they don't have the metal to operate. Just PR and column inches IMHO

Having a hotel in the city isn't going to fill an aircraft.

I suspect "Virgin" launching new flights from EDI to the States could be as straightforward as DL re-starting EDI-ATL, on DL metal, with a VS codeshare.

Fingers crossed. Werent we led to believe an announcement was imminent over a year ago? and arent Hainan's finances a bit 'iffy' ?
Hopefully the routing could be direct as double drops can sometimes put people off especially if any backtrack. Seem to get 'ok' online reviews though appear to just offer 2-class cabins with no PE or F. Lets hope its not on their older 767's and newer A330/787 show up.

The problem with double sectors is the offloading of ALL passengers in Edinburgh & Dublin to clear Immigration into the CTA. The rules regarding Immigration & Customs, which is to be even more complicated by the exit of the UK from Europe, into the CTA are complicated. The aircraft will be on the ground for approximately 2hrs. The Home Office and the equivalent Irish Dept will have to agree to this exceptional route. Multi sector flights are a rarity as the risk of Immigration & Customs offences is high especially from China. This has been one of the major hurdles in this route starting.

Absolute respect to team EDI for getting this over the line though despite the challenges! Very impressive!

Is an airline applying to the CAAC the same as getting it over the line? Applying is one thing, getting another!

I'd wait until you can book the flights before celebrating