Originally Posted by ridgeback
I appreciate almost all of what you've said but I disagree with you here, though I can't sight any definitive knowledge. STN and the other airports you've named aren't where most flyers, esp. the higher-fare paying business travelers, want to fly from. For those flyers, it's all about LHR and LGW; and then it's about frequency of service. And they'll pay more, usually much more, for the privilege. The lcc's have gone to the smaller airports by necessity, not as a matter of preference.
I don't think I'm being dumb, but I'm having a tough job grasping your argument here.
It is certainly not BA's fault that charges to fly from LHR are so high! Higher fare business travellers would sooner walk than fly the likes of Ryanair or Easyjet and the business model's of these airlines would be turned on their heads if they suddenly operated from LHR. The economical business traveller will happily fly from STN to Hahn/OsloTorp/Bergamo/Beauvais/Malmo/Skvatska etc and take advantage of the lower fares as a result.
If Michael O'Leary wanted access to LHR or more access to LGW and felt that cumbersome old BA were obstructing him, you'd definitely know about it and it would be plastered all over Ryanair's website. As it is, he is disputing airport charges from STN which he thinks are obscenely high, as are Easyjet who seem to be increasing from Luton.