Well, Antony, I think you are unnecessarily gloomy (do you have a reason for your sour grapes?) - remember one longhaul aircraft uses 20 pilots, and only two slots per day. Remember that a A340 is a few days in the classroom for A320 drivers. You don't have to use many of bmi's slots for longhaul to need all of their pilots - and then some - and they are currently on some of the cheapest terms and conditions in the market. And even if the slots are flogged, somebody is going to want to use them for something - and the bmi fleet is in the right place, with the right number of pilots, probably (looking at the number of A319/320/321's at LHR) the right aircraft, and the right reputation and experience. It would make really bad business sense to ignore what is already there and try and do something from scratch - unless you already have your own slack - and there aren't many airlines around like that at the moment.