I've worked in this type of forecasting at varioius airlines, and can tell you from experience that generally forecasts are kept conservative. Sometimes the actual flight does poorly, sometimes way better than expected. When they do really well, you add more capacity if you have the equipment and you believe that there is enough demand to absorb the capacity at the yield you need. Other times you're more cautious. That's kind of normal, and doesnt necessarily corroborate this story or deny it, it just is typical for a a long-haul, untested route.
Originally Posted by
NYTA
I think I read that story in the newspaper. Now I'm not one to believe anything I read in the paper, especially the Israeli paper, but there must have been some miscalculation on their part if they went from 3x weekly with a 787 to daily with a 777-300 within 18 months of launching the route.