Sorry if I'm misunderstanding the whole situation, but to me this purchase of BA Connect by flybe, as I mentioned in the crew thread in Rumours & News, has the potential to be more successful for both companies, consumers & staff than had the two companies each gone their separate ways. This newly merged company is focused on regional flying, will be operating an environmentally efficient fleet of modern aircraft, has a sound mixture of business & leisure destinations throughout Western Europe with more destinations set to be announced and a popular brand standing for "fly british european." BA will be maintaining a 15% shareholding in the company, so despite not being BA-branded, they will be able to maintain some influence in the regions, but leaving the actual business decisions to a group of professionals who actually know how to run a low-cost airline. bmibaby adding more destinations means that there will still be competition on many routes where there wouldn't have been room for three, particularly domestic sectors which must also compete with Virgin Trains, and today's proposed new facilities at Birmingham New Street station. Interestingly, flybe are proposing BHX-based expansion to Eastern Europe, and the airline was already known to be looking at replicating their success of flights to French regions in Spain, possibly including the Canary Islands.
I hope flybe will remain in T2, and by all intentions it sounds as if they will as they have indicated they want to take over BA's lounges in the regions and also the airport will be keen to utilise the newly renovated check in area well. T2 offers exactly what business passengers want, quick check-in & security facilities, relatively little walking distance to the gate and not being bombarded with the plethora of shops which are more suited to longhaul and leisure passengers. It will be interesting, given flybe's purchase of BACON does not include ground handling, to see the effect this will have on Swissport who have aggressively expanded to take on this contract, or British Airways Regional Handling who may start wearing flybe outfits.