It would not surprise me that BAA now have a scorched earth policy.
It’s not an intentional one but yes they do. The entire basis of the BAA argument was that Stansted serves a different market than Heathrow, any sniff of a full service carrier wanting to move to Stansted would have to be discouraged in order not to undermine the argument. The sooner the airport is sold and a new more active commercial team are brought in the better for everyone. Gatwick is a shining example of life after BAA and hopefully one that Stansted can emulate.
Atlantic going isn't the end of the world, yes it's an airline to cross off the list on Wiki
The point is that the number of airlines continues to decline even if the flights by the remaining carriers are going up. Easyjet and Ryanair now account for about 90% of the traffic and that is NOT healthy. Easyjet have made their intentions clear with the deal with Southend and three aircraft will be moved next summer Stansted is dying a long and painful death and that needs to be reversed as soon as possible