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axiom wrote:For the life of me, I don't understand this Heathrow fixation -- especially with regards to MCO posters. Is it a prestige thing? It must be, because there's a limited business case for putting a local O&D route at Heathrow.
Any argument about the importance of LHR v LGW regarding onward connections doesn't go far, when there are plenty of one-stop routings available from MCO to almost all significant European destinations.
SelseyBill wrote:axiom wrote:For the life of me, I don't understand this Heathrow fixation -- especially with regards to MCO posters. Is it a prestige thing? It must be, because there's a limited business case for putting a local O&D route at Heathrow.
Any argument about the importance of LHR v LGW regarding onward connections doesn't go far, when there are plenty of one-stop routings available from MCO to almost all significant European destinations.
I would hardly call a possible LHR-MCO route "a local O&D route".
As much as there is maybe a 'fixation' about service from everywhere to LHR, there is also IMO a 'fixation' by many posters here that 'leisure' markets like MCO is a 'O&D' market only.
There is a huge British community of 'well-heeled' ex-pats living in central Florida year round, and plenty of year-round business traffic. Just a question of how much and whether it justifies service. Las Vegas is a good example of how BA provides service from both LHR and LGW to what seems purely a leisure/O&D market; and New Orleans surprised many, as it was viewed over here as a largely O&D market too.
I can see MCO being on BA's short-list of upcoming markets for LHR service, and I only see that list expanding following service introduction in recent years to AUS/BNA/FLL/OAK/MSY/SJC (have I missed any?).
I personally think there are plenty of potential US destinations in the queue ahead of MCO; (like CMH/STL/IND/SAT/MCI/DTW); but then again I was very wrong about MSY......
PatrickZ80 wrote:aaflyer777 wrote:If EK was gonna do a 5th freedom flight out of LHR it'd be to JFK, not MCO
Orlando is lucky to have service to London at all, plenty of places don't even have that.
aaflyer777 wrote:If EK was gonna do a 5th freedom flight out of LHR it'd be to JFK, not MCO
PatrickZ80 wrote:
The reason Orlando isn't served from Heathrow is obvious, it's a leisure destination. Leisure destinations are served from Gatwick.
PatrickZ80 wrote:aaflyer777 wrote:If EK was gonna do a 5th freedom flight out of LHR it'd be to JFK, not MCO
Orlando is lucky to have service to London at all, plenty of places don't even have that.
PatrickZ80 wrote:Orlando is lucky to have service to London at all
mwhcvt wrote:Does any airline operate a 5th freedom flight out of LHR I would think it would it would be very cost prohibitive given your going to need double slots for a single connecting route, there would have to be some serious premium demand and ultimately if there’s was a route with such a degree of demand then BA/AA or VS/DL would already be operating it, look how long the AF LAX service lasted
GCT64 wrote:mwhcvt wrote:Does any airline operate a 5th freedom flight out of LHR I would think it would it would be very cost prohibitive given your going to need double slots for a single connecting route, there would have to be some serious premium demand and ultimately if there’s was a route with such a degree of demand then BA/AA or VS/DL would already be operating it, look how long the AF LAX service lasted
Yes, at least one: AI LHR-EWR
aeropix wrote:Back in the late 90’s when I was living in Daytona, a bunch of flights from England to Sanford were flown every day with very large airplanes by the likes of Airtours, Caledonian, Thomas Cook etc.
Don’t they still do that today? I recently had to return a rental car at SFB and the place was already bursting at the seams with a massive influx of British tourists.
Seems to me that the Great Britain to Central Florida market is absolutely saturated with flights to Sanford, hence why no LHR-MCO service. There is absolutely no need for such a flight with the tidal wave of transatlantic services at SFB.
neomax wrote:I was recently discussing with a friend at MCO how the airport is an extremely tricky situation getting any flights to LHR. BA has no interest, VS is committed to LGW, DL leaves London to VS and would never go farther than AMS/CDG. But he said the answer for MCO could be a wild card in the form of Emirates doing what it does best, and starting a new fifth freedom that was previously unserved. MCO's rampant pitches to literally anyone who can make LHR happen mean it may not be as far fetched as it seems. He's right, Emirates is the only one at MCO that can realistically make it happen, and with Emirates on both sides of the pond, it has by far the best chance of happening compared to any other options. MCO will do anything for LHR, and will seize the opportunity if Emirates ever thinks about it. Now that he mentioned it, Emirates seems like such an obvious option, I don't know how I never thought about it myself. With MXP-JFK and ATH-EWR, the catalyst was MXP and ATH which asked EK to start the route, much in the way MCO may consider doing. I would not be surprised if the folks at MCO have thought about Emirates as one of the possible ways to secure LHR in their exhaustive list of options, and EK is likely on their radar to try to target as the best chance for such a route.
codc10 wrote:There's no question MCO-LHR would be a big seller... the issue, of course, is whether the yield of a MCO flight justifies a slot. EK clearly views local and beyond DXB traffic to be more lucrative than a LHR fifth-freedom route.