BA have just as much to lose as EI if the codeshare finished....Its not all about Belfast-LHR market.
Obviously the codeshare is not dependant on Belfast-LHR market
But I would suggest it is the major factor as far as the rumors of EI/EIR starting up at BH
D Obviously there is no reason for EI to cut their BFS base and move to the city unless the attraction of the business LHR market is too good to miss out on given that Ambrose will offer the big Zero on fees to bring them in. Given that BA has just announced a commitment to the City route, it seems unlikely that the market will offer them much more than they have at the moment from BFS.
I personally thought that BA would pull out of Northern Ireland altogether after winding up BMI, then letting EI run all flights out of BHD-LHR with the BA codeshare (as mentioned above this is not likely now)
Add in to the mix that the profitable routes from BFS to the canaries are not realistic from the City (not to mention the new routes/frequencies from EZY/JET2) and it would seem that EI's wheeling and dealing to get a better deal might end up badly for them.