I used to think big airlines were right collecting up smaller airlines like playing Monopoly - great to end up with all the blue and green set properties with hotels on all.
Lufthansa has just proved my theory wrong, and I don't think there are any other big players out there to contest it.
Lufthansa's intention at the time of signing the Alliance Agreement in 2000 was to use bmi as a proxy to tap the high yielding North Atlantic traffic from the UK. The expansion plans were quite stunning - the UK as an aircraft carrier, basically.
Then came 9/11 and it all went pear-shaped.