@ RAT 5,
I hear Air France are opening routes out of LHR
AF & KLM are already operating routes out of LHR.
However the model is different to BA's. USA/LHR flights for AF-KLM are being operated under codeshare by the Skyteam Alliance Partners Delta & Northwest. AF and KLM gave up existing LHR slots for use by these airlines.
From a business point of view, seems like a good model,.... the partner airlines carry most of the risk, but AF-KLM reaps a healthy percentage of the generated revenue.
From a union / labour relations point of view, there has not been much of a public reaction by the unions (well, in KLM at least).........usually because the union will have obtained some other concessions in exchange for agreeing to the proposal.
As an aside, I sometimes wonder why it is that LH, AF, KLM etc do not seem to be itching to start up operations in each others backyards, e.g LH in Paris, or AF-KLM in Frankfurt, but all seem to want a slice of LHR. The premium business traffic is an obvious answer, but if all the premium traffic worth fighting for is concentrated at LHR, should BA not be fighting to protect this rather than spread itself thin competing on many fronts?