If you look at the official bmi reasons for dropping LHR-CDG then they make perfect sense, and in truth, they’ve droppe dit before the squeeze really bites. Basically the market between the two cities has declined for air travel in recent years, mainly due to the Eurostar service, and the opening of the CTRL will provide the second terminal in London for Eurostar, putting greater pressure on air services. Add to that the fact that there are now more carriers serving the city pair than ever before and you understand that with a declining passenger base, somebody had to ‘give’ first, and its bmi, which isn’t wholly suprising.

Indeed… Eurostar already has the majority of the London-Paris point to point market, and High Speed One (as CTRL is now known) will have an impact on travel to Paris from further afield. With a fast GNER (or whoever it will be next year) train from Leeds to London and St Pancras International 100 meters from Kings Cross, city-centre to city-centre rail is going to be competitve on time and far less hassle – a no-brainer unless you are really penny pinching, and that’s not the market bmi want. If Eurostar could get their act together with the domestic TOCs and offer attractively priced tickets not just for their own services but for travel from north of London, they could seriously dent Jet2 from Leeds and bmiBaby from EMA too.

And