Naive - no, not after 10yrs in this industry...just practical.
Whatever the number, BACon was losing money and clearly BA wanted out rather than investing to turn it around. My view is that Connect struggled due to a more competitive environment and due to the fact that certain BA procedures had to be followed, tieing the hands of those in control of Connect.
A business needs to change within a changing marketplace or otherwise suffer at the hands of the competition. Unfortunatley timing is everything and Flybe got it right by ordering props when everyone else ordered regional jets. It could so easily have gone the other way when BE ordered their CRJ's only to ditch them after a couple of years! Had they not then it is fair to say that BE would not be around today and Connect may well have taken their place as the major domestic operator within the UK.
Last edited by JobsaGoodun; 27th Jan 2008 at 19:33.