Hi All. This is my first posting as a non-lurker, so I thought I'd make a contribution which was in no way controversial :-)
BA's "termination" of the BFS-LHR route shouldn't necessarily be taken at face value; a de-constructionist analysis offers any number of alternative interpretations of this news item:-
a) Although BFS has been nixed from the schedule, there has been nothing from BA to suggest that they are pulling out of N.Ireland completely. So, for example, they could fly BHD-LHR (like BMI), and leave Aldergrove to the low-grade (sorry, low-cost) carriers like Go-F***, SleazyBob and (if PPRuNe rumours are to be believed) RyanBore!
b) Being (ostensibly) part of UK, N.Ireland needs an (ostensible) "flag carrier" airline to service it, so BA's withdrawal - on the grounds that it is (ostensibly)losing money on the route - is part of a longer game to get HMG to pony up megawads of dosh to "preserve this vital strategic link" and, purely co-incidentally of course(!), cross-fund BA's "real" loss-making routes.
c) (And this is mighty devious!!!) The loss of the "flag carrier" link to N.Ireland, although justified on a seemingly clear commercial basis (- could someone explain to me how BA could lose so much on a route with such high load factors? -), has actually occurred at the behest of HMG in order to soften up the populace for an early transition to a unified Ireland. This would certainly be consistent with the attempt today by Dr Reid - Secretary of State for N.Ireland - to get the people of mainland UK to "strain at the gnat" of "loyalist" misdeeds, while "swallowing the camel" of "nationalist" terrorism!
d) ....fill in your own scenario.....
In short, nothing is what it seems; one has to read very closely between the lines to find the truth.
Quaerere Verum.