On the surface it seems illogical to push ahead with a proposal that saves £3m when IA will cost more than that. £3m is barely an extra 50p on every passenger's ticket too.

However, I do think BA had a terrible strategy for expansion. BA have become so focussed on making cuts and sustaining profit that growth has been ignored. Aircraft orders do not meet aircraft retirements on a seat for seat basis, a third runway at LHR is a decade away from being operational if it's approved this year, and their is a lack of suitable aircraft to operate profitable schedules.

BA is faced with the awkward, but still rather nice, prospect of having both LGW and LHR operations being profitable yet not having enough aircraft currently, nor on order, to fully exploit both markets.