Still some misconceptions here amongst the BA community about franchises,- hence protagonists of their flying being taken over by mainline. The foreign based franchises could NOT be operated by BA. They do not have the traffic rights to so so and would almost certainly never get them. These companies therefore simply add reach and revenue to BA which it could otherwise never get. The UK regional operators could never sustain BA flight and cabin crew costs, the total being of course not just salary but the very expensive allowances structure as well. Even BA itself can not afford its shorthaul costs, - just look at the losses they make. Pure freight operations are very difficult to make money on. Its a very competitive market, yields are often dreadful and loads are highly directional,- hence often dead leg flying to get a decent uplift. The reality is that sub contracting is the only way for BA to make money on pure freight operations.