Well. That's got to be right. But I think what people are getting at is that BA seems to have lost any sense of mission beyond the bottom line and shareholder value, any set of values related to being a national flag carrier. So what, you say, it's not a nationalised industry. Mind you it does receive massive subsidy in the form of regulatory protection - not that it is the only airline to do so, I accept.

What others seem to be getting at is the short-termism endemic to British industry at the moment - the domestic sh business is not doing that well this week, let's dump it to concentrate on what our "core business" looks like this week. I am reminded of those universities closing their chemistry and physics departments because just at the moment the economics of those do not look that good. But what are universities for anyway, and will those conditions apply in ten, twenty, fifty years' time?

It's a sad state of affairs when British Airways cannot take a long-term view of the business, not even as long-term as FlyBe, a relative newcomer who can still see the benefit of investing in renewing the fleet. Cash cows have a habit of not lasting forever, and I wonder whether BA might still come to regret not being arsed to try to sustain a broad-based business.

Anyway ... that said, I think the future might actually be brighter for those of us regional cast-offs in the short term, nice to see someone interested in investing in and expanding the product range.