Well if they closed LHR, they could possibly sell the slots for several M$. However the mad rush by CO, DL and US into LHR after Open Skies was activated caused slot prices to be inflated. Now that reality has set in and IMO none of the 3 is doing nearly as well as expected, the slot prices have likely fallen. They could of course, move PHL-LHR to CLT-LHR, where there is no competition on the route and rely more on connections to support yields. PHL-LHR is (again IMO) mostly a status symbol route for US, which in these economic times may be too costly to maintain. International Seasonal routes tend to be problematic in slow economic times because of the requirement that they need to perform in a very short 4-6 month time frame. I'm not certain how well ATH is now doing, but my bet is that it relies on significant cargo to achieve acceptable yields at that distance, even with the frequently weight restricted 767 - and Seasonal only cargo/business travel contracts can't be that easy to acquire. I do remember some discussion awhile ago however, that ATH was planned to go year round with a 332. Summary - I would speculate that any Europe route deletions would be either from the seasonal group (ARN, etc.), or possibly BRU or AMS. Of course, one has to ask why, if US is so concerned about reducing international capacity, they would ever tackle CLT-GIG - particularly when they are commited to start PHL-PEK 6 months later. CLT-GIG (if awarded) may prove to be a very costly investment at this time for the sole purpose of creating a US identity into deep South America.
