Don't forget that BA own 15% of FlyBe, so both the Air France agreement and the big Embraer order will have needed Willie Walsh's approval.
It is surprising that AF have gone for a codeshare with someone else, rather than putting CityJet (which they own 100%) on these routes.
Regarding the jet order, are we seeing that the story about the Dash-400, and turboprops in general, being the way forward for shorter/smaller routes just doesn't stand up, and passengers perceive them as very much second best ? And as they are notably slower, you can't get in as many sectors per day. As well as seat-mile costs you need to think of revenue per aircraft per day.