N292UX wrote:Certainly sucks for IND here but they probably aren't even the biggest loser out of this. That'd almost certainly be CMH. Had both their nearby competitors (CLE and CVG) both gain new TATL routes this year - technically 2 in the case of CVG if you include the CDG resumption while CMH got nothing.
IND will be fine still. Wouldn't rule out BA still coming to IND in 2023/4. Aer Lingus is another possibility. And who knows, maybe AA or DL will shock us with an LHR or CDG route/resumption.
Mid term, I think serving both Indy AND Cincinnati should be viable, especially as DL successfully did just that pre-pandemic. But also as still-unserved Indy clearly has demand for its own flight. Much talk on motorsport and business connections, plus it has its own catchment area.
That said, in the light of today’s announcement, I do now wonder if BA *really* were about to launch Indy last year, even though it’s public knowledge they applied for slots. Though it is possible incentives swung them into CVG’s arms over Indy for next year.
For 2024, given recent reporting, you’d have to think MCI might be favourite, especially as BA may want to launch well before the World Cup, but then again it is plausible Indy’s turn could be next, with MCI to follow in ‘25, or maybe also for ‘24, given they serve totally different regions.