My bet is on the following:
- Remaining routes from EMA to be handed over to bmi baby (it is no coincidence that baby has already announced service to most of the same destinations from Cardiff, viz EDI, GLA, JER, BFS). This will mean baby gets another four 737s and surplus Airbus capacity will cover the LHR routes to release the 737s to baby.
- Possible order for small Airbuses in the pipeline so that LHR can become all Airbus operation and floated off in the direction of 100% Lufthansa ownership.
- Warning about financial results for this year, which are apparently pretty grim. Yields on LHR services have tumbled after the new pricing policy was introduced and there has not been a significant growth in passenger numbers to offset the yield drop. MAN long-haul continues to lose money (as I think everyone would reasonably expect it to, given that it is only the second year of operation).
- Fokker 100s to be phased out asap.
- Embraer 145s released from East Midlands will move to take over EDI and GLA to CPH (but done properly instead of hacking about with a Fokker 100 double-drop between the two); and will also be used for some modest frequency growth on existing routes from MAN and LBA.
Let's see how much of the above actually comes good in their announcement.