... seems a bit silly to require loss of slots, since BA will still have fewer than (say) AF at CDG, DLH at FRA, KLM at AMS, Iberia at MAD .... (I am saying this as an independent - these days, this is the competition, not Virgin who are simply too small to make any difference).
... and it seems a bit shortsighted to make people redundant, since new slots are really wanted for longhaul development, which will require far more pilots per slot than shorthaul.
... and it sounds bloomin' absurd to imply that BA is even thinking of acquiring bmi as an act of charity to the employees!! When they are even prepared to treat their own employees as badly as they treat the cabin crew on the new contract, are they really likely to care two hoots for those in another airline??