Originally Posted by
djsflynn
I'd agree, it would not surprise me to see several destinations where there's a CX service in the 'peak hours' favoured by business travellers and going up against a competing full-service airline, with a UO service in 'off-peak' hours and aimed at more price-sensitive travellers who can be more flexible with their timetable, and potentially going up against an LCC on the same route.
I used to fly a lot HKG-KUL as businessman.
The idea of "rush hour" is a bit fuzzy on a 4 hour route. A flight departing early morning from HKG will return mid-day from KUL (off-peak). A flight getting business travelers back from KUL in the evening needs to leave HKG early afternoon (off-[eak).
Business travelers need frequency and flexibility. With traffic jams in KL, I often took a later or earlier CX flight. KUL entertained many daily flights and KUL-HKG had significant premium traffic.
UO is a true LCC, sardine seating, no lounge,.... No one paying a high CX fare will be happy to spend 4 hours on UO.
Mixing CX and UO on any of the few important regional destinations seems to me destructive.
Now this is assuming that traffic returns to 2018 levels. For the next couple of years, it will be survival planning and anything goes.