Feel like this should be part of some other thread! Part of the perception is that some airlines may look at what BA has done and seen that they've ceded the market to others whilst saying they can't turn a profit at MAN. That their cost structure is their biggest impediment wasn't broadcast too many times. If Mr Foreign Airline CEO looks at MAN and sees that the leading British airline doesn't want to serve MAN, then may be they are thinking "How can we, with lesser brand awareness, succeed?".
The big game changer for the airline industry and those who comment about "weak" demand should have been the decision by EK to bring A380 ops to MAN with 1st class and them saying it was due to F class passengers out of the MAN area using EK's LHR services. Oh, add in having 2 daily high density 77Ws beating LGW's 3 daily low density aircraft for profitabilty should help dissuade observers from saying that having lots of economy passengers on board trashes yields and profits.
Getting CX to start non-stop well ahead of when they had been saying they would is also a feather in MAN's cap regarding premium demand - this was an airline waiting for the A350. Yet, in they go with 77Ws and are nudging 90% loads and only failing to go daily to to a combination of slot availability at LGW happening and delayed deliveries.
Now we have Hainan off to their tremendous start with over 80% capacity filled for the 1st 4 months of the route when recent global Chinese airline route launches are struggling to reach 60%. And we've got to bear in mind BA recently not totally ruling out a return citing the level of frequent flyers in the area - they've never really contemplated aiding their MAN long-haul sector with their own domestic feed and tapping into partner airline's hubs for onward destinations - which is probably setting off a few people in senior positions wondering if always getting the MAN premium passenger to always do a double transfer if venturing past a partner airline's foreign hub when rival airlines are flyng to their base and onwards with a single transfer.
