BA you are beginning to make yourself look foolish here. Granted it is obvious you have a great desire for BA to flourish and that is your choice, but justifying this by suggestion they buy, do deals or sell out to Virgin, Ryanair or anyone else is not going to happen.
Lets be honest does BA need to operate as many flights as it does to JFK every day, no, so if it really thought it could make more money using those slots elsewhere it would, there are resources available within if it needs to.