Thankyou TR, much appreciated.
What in your view are the options if the RJ100 is retained then? I suspect those leases will be very cheap given the lack of demand for the a/c elsewhere, and any (BA) beancounter can obviously make the figures say wht they like anyway. The drawback may be the operating cost, but the only advantage I can see for the '85 is the ability to lift a full load further out of LCY. The 318 is obviously a hugely better aeroplane, but the DOC must be an order of magnitude greater. Granted it can carry more pax, but it's still yield at the end of the day, and all our routes are not doing as well as they might. The on-cost of the mainline overhead may not be supportable.
In terms of seats at the pointy end, grandfather or no grandfather - doesn't bother me as long as the pay is protected, it's security I'm after.
Ref Blackcap's question, I was speaking with Nigel and Carl recently, the subject of PH and CAA came up, they seemed to think he had applied for the job in Flight. I thought it was a windup, but they seemed quite sure not.