.....apart from that required for new sickness assumptions, retirements, and EASA, although these would be far smaller numbers than required for growth.
" Sickness and Fatigue levels are unsurprisingly on the rise in BA (and many other airlines i'd expect) due to EASA FTL's, some fleets doing 5-6 LH trips a month which isn't sustainable long term so certainly numbers will be needed to cope with this continuing problem.