Skipness - you reckon Virgin are talking rubbish. I reckon they are too. Virgin may also know they are talking rubbish. DLH may have been very happy to sell bmi to Virgin as long as Virgin could actually come up with the money. Virgin also know that barring unforeseen events, the sale of bmi to IAG by Lufthansa is pretty much a done deal, and there's almost nothing Virgin can do to stop a formal contract being signed.
The only thing now remaining for Virgin to do, is to put media pressure on the CAA or the EU to show they are acting in the interest of the consumer and make IAG surrender slots or in some other way make it harder for IAG to compete against Virgin.
It's spin, the whole spin and nothing but the spin and the main parties know it. Joe Smith reading some fluff article in the paper doesn't know where spin merges into reality, wants to know "the Govt will do something" and hence the possibility of BA being required to lease out some extra slots.
The accountants and lawyers have done much of the heavy lifting in the transaction. Now it's time to let the
PR people and lobbyists have their turn. Cringeworthy but it'll all blow over in a few days