At the time of the B.Cal takeover there was a spat between BA and Airbus over who would bear the cost of repainting the aircraft built and painted but not delivered.
If B.Cal had survived it would have beaten all the other Gatwick-based scheduled service attempters (from Laker to GB). Simplistically, the airport doesn't work for such operations without the market being skewed (as it was for much of B.Cal's era).
At least they escaped losing more money on the MD-11s.