Quote: "The merger made sense at the time.
BA had no scope for growth at LHR when bmi was in Lufthansa's hands and there were soundings that the other airline groups were looking at Iberia. If Iberia had been bought by either AFKLM or Lufthansa Oneworld would have been seriously weakened in Europe."
Indeed, having "missed the boat" with KL, and with its subsequent link with AF, BA had to join with IB.