xwindflirt
Yes, bmi's slots need flown, but there is now 14 less slot pairs to actually fly as a result of yesterday's deal. I also accept that IAG purchased bmi in order to obtain their slots for longhaul expansion, however this won't be an overnight job - this is something that will take YEARS. BA for one don't have the airframes to do so and you unfortunately can't do a Rangoon and back in a bmi A319.
IAG will fulfil bmi's summer schedule and slowly wind it down until you have one big BA. The last thing I think that they want is another loss making SH operation. They already posses one! God knows how they plan to do it, however having 14 less slot pairs to initially worry about may actually do them a favour; who knows?
As for BA's recent recruitment drive, I can tell you something from experience. As soon as the plan to acquire bmi was announced, the buoyant level of recruitment slowed down to a trickle. At the beginning of the year it was announced that it would be suspended come March. Anyone awaiting a course date from BA would subsequently have their tenure in the hold pool extended from a standard 12 months to 18 months. Their potential employment would be pending developments largely external to BA. So in terms of legality, you have little to worry about. BA hasn't been making anyone offers whilst the decision over the purchase and integration of bmi was being made.
So if there are to be redundancies in mainline and of course baby and regional, then I'm not at all surprised. As horrible as it will be for those affected, Walsh will always stick by the arguement that if IAG hadnt been permitted to take bmi then bmi itself would have ceased to exist. Branson could have huffed and puffed all he liked about how he would have re-engaged in negotiations, however all he wanted to ensure in all of this was that IAG and BA didn't get bmi. After all, what would Virgin Atlantic have done with it?