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Other than the occasional convenience of people living in the immediate vicinity of LGW, I can't see any reason for a LGW operation at all. It would have to double up on destinations with LHR (otherwise you'd end up having to transfer between LHR & LGW) so would lead to a reduction in frequency from each airport. </font>
Or people who want to avoid the hassels and chaoticness LHR brings?
I honestly think BD would give BA a run for its money if doubled out on some routes out of LGW -- and I'm sure LH would codeshare as would a few others...
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Connections with other *A carriers are important (why else would airlines spend £ on programmes to get gates close to each other, align timetables etc). Are you trying to tell me that if BD operated exclusively out of LGW and all the other * carriers were at LHR that BD would ever have been asked to join???</font>
This doesn't mean LGW cannot connect into other hubs like FRA etc. I don't know how the UK - US Transatlantic rules work, but could they not try to fly LGW - ORD? Or is the agreement apply to all LON?
If *A didn't ask BD to join, who would it have asked? BE? They would have no UK market which is obviously pretty important... So, I don't think it would have mattered whether if BD flew solely out of LGW or not.
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Which would come predominantly from their LHR operation, so you're really only keeping the same revenue while significantly increasing the cost.</font>
Sure, some would, but I'm sure that many more would come from BA -- I know if they flew out of LGW, they would have gotten the other half of my travels.
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Really? I grant there's the remnants of BA, Virgin's bucket and spade routes and the handful of US carriers who can't get slots at LHR but other than that who are you talking about?</font>
There are a few more reputable airlines than that... LO flies out of LGW and they're about to be *A, no? So, there will be at least one very soon.
