Travel Question of the Day: Simon Calder on easyJet's Gatwick-Cologne service

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Filling nine out of 10 seats on each plane is only half the story (AFP/Getty Images)

Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles readers' questions. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder

Q I travel from Gatwick to Cologne regularly to see my grandchildren. I have now discovered they have just ended this service. The flights when I travel are always full, so why would they do this? I’ve had no response from easyJet to my enquiry. Can you help, Simon?

Ann Kinsella

A. On the face of it, Gatwick to Cologne looks a prime route for easyJet. It is a short hop connecting Londoners with the heart of the Rhineland. The route carries a mix of business travellers and leisure passengers - either visiting friends and family as you do, or enjoying the fine city of Cologne and its surroundings. The rail alternative (Eurostar from St Pancras, with a change in Brussels) takes a lot longer. You add that passenger loads on the easyJet flight were good. So what’s not to like?

Well, filling nine out of 10 seats on each plane, which is what easyJet generally achieves, is only half the story. Equally important is the average fare paid. With strong competition from other London airports to both Cologne and Dusseldorf (only 20 minutes away) the “yield” is unlikely to have been too impressive.

Every airline is constantly evaluating existing and potential routes, trying to predict the most profitable links to fly with its expensive planes and precious slots. With summer starting, easyJet knows it can command handsome fares on services from Gatwick to the Mediterranean. So the Cologne route has been ditched, along with two other services from Gatwick in the same general direction: to Brussels and Strasbourg.

Could another airline step in? Never say never, but if easyJet does not regard Gatwick-Cologne as viable then it’s hard to see anyone else making good returns from the route.