That’s a good point Ink, we do need to be wary of a superior assumption. I used to live in Bahrain and travelled all round the Middle East when I lived there; I do respect the different cultures one finds there. I’m especially fascinated by Iran, but I don’t suppose I’ll be able to see it for myself anytime soon.

My disagreement is simply with the ruling political elite, not any feeling that one culture is better than any other.

Tempest – are you being disingenous or naive? How about the “American Taliban” who was famously given many more rights and freedoms than the other Taliban captured by US forces? Terrorists come from any country on earth and there is nothing special about either the UK or US which exempts them from this.

Indeed the US is as guilty as anyone else (UK included) of characterising some groups as terrorists and some perfectly identical groups as freedom fighters, depending on political expediency.

Isn’t it amazing, how our cultures are linked in unexpected ways!

Spain, France, Italy, Ireland, England, Isle of Man, Scotland…

Why should the States be bothered at all?

Someone will come along to fly GCI-LGW in the end; the involvement of the States should start (and end) with informal chats and prods in the right direction, nothing more.

As for Flybe, they are turning themselves into a niche domestic carrier as well as a European one. They may not especially be committed to the CI, but if they are presented with the route I think it would be in their own best interests to take it.

Exactly the same problem is virtually guaranteed to hit the IOM before too long; BA will axe its routes and we will be left with a few sporadic Flybe routes (BHD, BRS, NCL, LCY) and a “national carrier” that flies 19 seaters and doesn’t go anywhere near London! Like with the ATR-72, BA will retire the ATP at some point in the near future, and the only jet to serve the IOM is a 20 year old 146 which is looking long in the tooth. Maybe the goverments of IOM and Guernsey should club together and acquire some LGW slots and share them!

….but economically, Saudi is nothing special. Its importance is overstated; GDP is only $196bn (about the same as Poland). It only looks so impressive because it is the rich boy in its own neighbourhood.

But in terms of securty of the oil supply, who needs Saudi? Iraq will shortly be on-stream and the Russians have equally large oil reserves. Although Russia is another poor excuse for democracy and human rights, it is at least one step further along the “civilisation” ladder than Saudi.

The US will fail to tackle Saudi by itself; the Anglo-American axis needs to work together at full tilt for this one to be pulled of.

Originally posted by martin_EGTK
The go around procedures at Heathrow do not direct aircraft into the path of a departure runway, this I felt was not necessary and will further heighten the publics already hyperbolic fear of flying.

If having the media do something like this, is the price we have to pay to get politicians to look seriously at ATC and aviation infrastructure, I for one don’t mind paying it!

C’est la vie