Paxboy,
Your theory nosedives when you consider Gatwick and the purchase of CFE. The airline bought CFE because it wanted the 97 slots I agree but it has been slimming down the longhaul operation at LGW ever since. CFE was bought for several reasons: BALPA drew a line in the sand over outsourcing of BA work at LGW/LHR, it was also a defensive measure against the low cost operators. Rod considers LGW as LHR's third runway and as such did not want to help the no frills operators to attack 'heathrows soft underbelly'! The situation in the regions is different to that at LGW, I don't know what the strategy is out there-does anyone else?!