THere may be more to this than meets the eye: [speculation/on] With BMI now gone, isn't EI one of the biggest slot holders at LHR? Financially they're also not doing great, LHR is likely one of EI's cash-cows so if BA goes on the attack, gives them additional headaches, maybe even diverts some of their transatlantic traffic, helps deepen their financial problems, sending them into FR's arms who not wanting to operate from LHR sell their slots on to the open market thereby helping BA increase their dominance at the airport even further and leaving them with a monopoly on the LHR-DUB market. This could work great for them and might be worth a long-ish wait [speculation/off]

Perhaps extreme but not completely implausible.