In message . li, at
11:24:49 on Sun, 14 Mar 2010, Tom Anderson
remarked:
The second thing that's obvious is that we need a high-speed service
from Heathrow to Europe, so we can cut out lots of short-haul
connecting flights.
No, it's not obvious at all.

He's not very clear what these "connecting flights" are, but if it's
short-haul to places like CDG (which isn't served by Eurostar,
although it passes the end of the runway), Amsterdam, Frankfurt, to
get an onward long haul, then you could have the same effect by
regulating prices so it's economic to fly direct from London.

Apologies, i should have been clearer. I was thinking of passengers
arriving at Heathrow from outside Europe, and then heading on to places
in Europe. I understand from this business about Heathrow being a 'hub'
that there is quite a lot of these passengers.

As I hinted above, you need to look carefully at the price model for
flight combinations like that.
--
Roland Perry