if its not making an airline money why operate ?
You'd hope that LH had a reasonably astute knowledge of how to build a business. It takes time to establish a business, particularly against established competition.
AFAIK, the route trends on BRS-FRA were in line with Year 1 expectations (remember, they'd only just *increased* the weekly rotations for summer 2009 about 5 weeks ago), so I don't think there was a structural problem with the strategy. It just looks like the funding for growth in the UK has been cut.
To illustrate my earlier point on YQs. I have to get to HAJ next month, and was on the verge of booking BRS-FRA-HAJ. I'm now looking at BRS-BRU-HAJ (but the connection times are very poor). The fare is £102, the 3rd party taxes are £76, and the fuel surcharge is...
£107.60 (the most expensive component). Total, £286 (and not great flight times - 3/4 hour layovers in BRU).
So it looks like BD ex LHR is a viable option, at £237 and direct flights at the right times.