DAr19, I have amazing repspect for the Syrian Toursit Authority and the Sterling work that they are doing. Truly a world shaping organisation. The points you make are actually well made sir, but peripheral.
Most people know BA is a plc, they just have a memory of them as the national carrier. When they were the national carrier, they were hardly the worlds best. Most people old enough to remember them as the national carrier also lived through Thatcher's era of mass privatisation. I don't believe they really believe BA is a national carrier in the way you mean. Honestly.
Now surely as an accountant I expect a logical grasp of revenue generation and an understanding of getting as much from ones assets as possible. This is the managements responsibilty to the shareholders. This is what BA do ruthlessly ( except for Open Skies which is a ruthless attempt to screw over their own staff ! )
PR and goddwill are part of the business model no doubt, ruthless business acumen is demanded especially right now or there won't be a BA to bitch over. They have a MASSIVE pension deficit and we are heading into a downturn. The decision to terminate MAN-JFK looks smarter by the day, the decision to begin LGW-JFK may not pan out.
I also refer you to my arguments that legacy carriers use the hub and spoke model, the new locos not so much as they operate numerous bases across Europe.
The bottom line is that no one on here has suggested a way for BA to compete head to head outside of London with the locos. The public vote with their feet and the BA cost base is HUGE in comparison with the new boys.
BTW I'm not a soft southern fan boy, I'm a bitter Scot who lived through Glasgow losing NWA , BA, American, Air Canada and United. All that promise and rhetoric from the airlines and not a penny of profit after all that effort. I want MAN to do well, and I reckon that all things considered they ARE doing well.