It's not all spin and no one sheds jobs lightly. Bottom line is that they believe honestly in my view that those two A330s will make more money at Heathrow. It's worth remembering that there are a Hell of a lot of BMI and ex BMED staff at Heathrow whose jobs need to be looked out for as well. Any move to prop up mid term revenues has to be sound as we head into a recession that will last 18-24 months. It's **** when things like this happen, but it's not unexpected, it's not personal, and MAN has a good long haul network, the best outside London by a country mile to take up any slack.
No one wants perspective today, but I remember being prettyamazed that BMI ended up with three A330s and no where to fly them from after LHR access went....a bit wrong (!) Even seeing G-WWBD brand new and dumped for months at a time near Terminal 2. BMED has brought new opportunities and has been something of a smart move that few saw coming.
Are we really saying that the evil men in the boardroom were sitting on a gold mine and decided they didn't want Manchester's money? They had enough of profits and high yield and simply buggered off? When BA left, BMI didn't take up the slack. I doubt Virgin will do much now.
Good luck to all.