Yes, but hasn't he now made a volte-face and said he might be willing to support the move if it were profitable?
Just wondering about EI's interest in looking east; you may recall about a year ago, possibly more, there was talk about EI looking at various Asian destinations - Bangkok, Singapore and even Shanghai were mentioned and there was talk of KUL actively touting for EI's business, but now, it's all gone completely dead. EI does dangle the possibility of a new Asian route every so often (for example when it ordered the A350s), but apart from that it's all gone cold.
I guess Open Skies is one reason, but surely not the only one?