All depends on how the market shapes up. Virgin Atlantic pulled out after 9.11 because it felt there would not be enough room for three full service carriers between Toronto and London. They invested over a million dollars launching their service, and expected under normal circumstances that it would take 18-months or more to start breaking even and two years or more to start recouping their investment and making profits. After 9.11, they had to rewrite their business plan, and YYZ was no longer a part of it. [Let alone Branson's press conference boast that he would like to start a discount Canadian domestic carrier if the foreign ownership rules were changed.]

BD may also have higher priorities for expanding its long range route system, so this is a far less expensive way of establishing a beach head and some customer awareness of its brand in Canada.

But I see the move primarily to increase brand loyalty on the UKside, not really over here. The likelihood is they saw a lot of transAtlantic traffic going to BA from those living outside London, on the assumption that BD couldn't provide seemless service through LHR or LGW. This way BD can market to this one connection market, and seemlessly move these customers from domestic BD flights onto codeshare AC ones. [There is a psychology to seeing the same airline code on a ticket, versus that of another carrier. Why else would codeshares have taken off as they have?]

So this is how I read this announcement, and don't expect to see BD metal out here for quite a long time, if ever.