BA will not stand by and let the Arabs and Sir Dickie link up at the centre of their world. That would be a nightmare for them, the deep pocketed Abu Dhabi chaps and the anti-BA Branson, fireworks at Waterside me thinks! It's a good job this one isn't on eBay, think of the commision, the money required if there's a bidding war could be considerably more than bmi and its slots are worth. It's all down to Lufthansa, they'll have a preferred owner that fits into the Star family and I guess that's in the favour of Virgin/Etihad. This is going to be very, very interesting...