I agree with many of the above posts.....and wonder how different Gatwick would now look had Rod not decided to shaft, sorry, INTEGRATE, CityFlyer last year.
Had September 11th happened first, they could have transferred many of the North Terminal EOG routes to CityFlyer (as Bob Ayling wanted to do) with a much reduced union backlash. CFE could have continued to run BA routes (aircraft size reduced from 737 to RJ100 on some routes), make a profit (even in the current climate given the CFE management), and feed some short-haul pax onto BA's long-haul flights.
The CFE integration was entirely driven by politics, and made very little business sense. Even halfway through the integration process, costs were rising dramatically, yield management on some CFE routes was losing the focus that CFE management had, and it was clear that the integration was going to be a financial disaster.
Yes, CFE had its problems, but nothing that couldn't have been resolved. BA could have had a nice little 'BA' operation at Gatwick, managed by a management team who were specialists in the LGW short-haul market, and totally focussed on this. I wonder if Rod is regretting the decision now???