I think the AEU issue is more about protecting the route the 757 is used AEU did the africa stuff before as an airline and did well by all accounts, if bmi drop them they will just start up under a new name running the routes against BMI and making it pay a lot more than BMI.
Its about protecting those lucrative routes the 757 operates on on AEU and BMI dont give a toss who gets made redundant BMI pilots or AEU pilots, time will tell if it even happens.
Just how many BMI FO.s were given commands or right seats on the 757 last time this deal was offered?