Surely the obvious explanation is that Loganair wants to establish a negotiating position before the serious talks about the franchise roll around? If BA feels that Loganair has no alternative to a continuation of the franchise, you can be sure they'll take advantage of that - increase the % of revenue that the franchise fee represents, limit the possible destinations Loganair can serve just in case BaCon wants to go there one day, and so on. So Loganair's just signalling that they
do have an alternative (allegedly
), to keep BA honest.
Not sure what form that alternative might take. A merger with bmi regional?
Let's face it, in Loganair's present form, while their services are very important for connectivity in Scotland, they don't really provide a key piece of the strategic jigsaw for Skyteam or Star Alliance (or even BA, come to that...)