If IAG buys bmi it will have plenty of slots at Heathrow. There is a lot of political sensitivity around maintaining Aer Lingus’ links between the UK and Ireland so there won’t be much that can be done with them. Aer Lingus also won’t add much to IAG’s long haul network.
Regarding Asia, it’s no secret IAG is relatively weak. Partly this is an issue of geography. LHR is not in the right place in Europe to pick up connecting traffic to Asia. Also, historically cabin crew costs on long range routes have been very high. A combination of the 787s and a lower cost base should help in this regard.
If recent reports that HNA Group and EVA Air are interested in joining oneworld prove to be true, BA will have added incentives to operate to more flights to PEK and HKG, TPE and potentially HAK depending on traffic (Hainan does have a population of 8 million after all). That is in addition to the necessary KUL service due to the Malaysian move to oneworld. Surely those will fix the problem!
Dual hubs (71) wonder how many examples will be published. Could be interesting to see which through points East to West are shorter and quicker through Madrid than London.
Is the web site (107) live?
Fuel (24-27) thats a huge risk to manage.
Shape of Middle East (81) could not work the map out
