Atropos and others,
Don't keep coming back to aircrew and their salaries as the issue......we all know that the 'mismanagement' is not particularly one of Flight Ops.
Just look at the handling costs and inefficiencies in the North Terminal......you are paying 3x what you could get with a dedicated handling team in the South Terminal, but is the handling in the north any better....no way!!
BA have pulled out much of the longhaul, but not really stripped away the same proportion of Club Lounges or office space....so short-haul is now presumably saddled with an even higher proportion of these costs than it was in the past.
No-one is saying CFE was perfect, and I have no doubt salaries would have risen as aircraft size increased.....just remember it started with small turboprops which do not have the same earning power as a 737, but still need two drivers at the pointy end. However, the turboprop fleet was reducing, the RJ fleet was increasing, so inevitably salaries would have risen with market forces.
It may have been run "out of portacabins" but it was the people who made it successful......a management team who were focussed and knew the LGW short-haul market. Not many of those in BA.
Ask the ex-CFE employees where they would rather be right now in these uncertain times and I bet the majority would like to turn the clock back.
It's too late for that now, but for god's sake don't let BA drag down any other good companies such as GB. (Incidentally, another successful company which like CFE was managed from knackered old offices next to a sewage farm.....it must be something in the air?!)