"On this route - New York / St. Petersburg - there is NO non-stop competition,"
That just about says it all. After all these years... not one single major carrier has deemed this route potentially profitable enough to fly a non-stop.... between two major Class One cities of the world ? Are you kidding ?? Are you kidding ?????????? Simple bottom line, 'Sparky: If this were a profitable non-stop route, American or Delta or United or Lufthansa or Aeroflot or SOMEBODY would have been already been flying it LONG AGO!
"There are many opinions out there, but 'the smart money' would use historcal data and other relevant information."
The "Smart Money" wouldn't be - and isn't - anywhere near this Russian Mafia scam. Make book on that.
"One more thing - there is NO Russian influence over Baltia, and the Dept of Transp assures just that - including making sure that Baltia is at least 75% owned by U.S. citizens, by federal law."
Last I looked, 'Sparky, "the law" wasn't and never has been much of a deterrent to determined criminals. As impotent as the U.S. government is today, the notion the Russian Mafia couldn't and can't get away with just about anything it wants to in the U.S. is laughable on its face, including this pretense of starting an airline to fly - non-stop, can I get a round of applause? - between New York and St.Pete.
Too funny ! Go, Vladimir, GO !
AI
