Originally Posted by
Knobbgb
With such a small fleet or A321neoLR I can see A3 trying out 3 or 4 new, long routes with very little risk. They could operate more than that with a lower weekly frequency. They can't fully utilise the fleet because just a single aircraft out for maintenance would mean some flights might not be operated at all.
+1
Originally Posted by
Knobbgb
they would make sense as "filler" destinations. Look at TK and how they use their 777/787/A330 etc. on many inter-Europe flights, even as short as IST-ATH. There's no way they'd buy them just for that (or if they did, they'd configure them less premium-heavy) but it increases fleet utilisation with the side effect of letting people know how good the long-haul (hard) product is.
I just hope they'll keep them away from domestic routes, or they'll get vandalized (as many of the A320neos already have been, though I fear it'd be worse for the LRs)!