Safari Goat,
You forget 'Brand Equity', GF has loads of it. GF doesn't need to go about with the in your face marketing followed by EK & EY.
With regards betting on which airline out EK,EY,QR & GF likely to fold/contract, in my opinion it is EK. GF has a very strong regional network and is well entrenched in SAUDI & OMAN, the 2 largest pax markets in the middle-east. And their code share with SAUDIA is only the start of saud inv into GF.
The rest of the crowd are chasing the indian market. Here QR & EY have a advtg due to their oil/gas diplomacy and EK is flying in only on gratis, follow this link to see where the money is coming for EK
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2004/08...baiyukos.shtml
As i see it EK will soon set a leasing co like SALE. The excess eqpt will be leased out ; again to the indian market. You'll hear very soon that JET AIRWAYS an indian carrier leasing 2 777s off EK.