Is it not possible to put a business case for a Manchester to Hong Kong route which would carry both point to point traffic and connecting traffic to QF.
On the face of it yes, I mean BA used to fly B747s on the MAN-HKG route into the late 80s (I think?). 135,000 pa = ~370 per day currently split between BA / EK / EY / QR / BD & STAR. That's one B744 for the entire market split over multiple carriers.
You'd need to grab most of that current market to make a daily direct feasible, bearing in mind that the price for a daily direct would be more than a one stop with the gold plated Middle East carriers. Hence in the case of BA, I am not convinced the numbers would add up given how price sensitive the market is.
Also the current strategy for BA/QF has just taken HKG out of the equation in favour of hubbing through SIN.
As for BMI going up against Emirates, well that's not going to happen.
I do have that BA is basically London Airways.
Exactly, and will also be building on MAD, a good strategy to return to levels of profitability to maintain the brand and pay for product and fleet improvement. Anything "regional" has been borderline or loss making even in the halcyon days of Landor and based One Elevens. The level of money that needs to be made to replace 57 B747-400s is not going to be found on regional point to point alas.