That is a good anallysis Prospero of where BA are and how it got to this point. I do disagree with your conclusions however. BA is considerably more dependant on transatlantic routes than other EU or Global carriers. As such a decline in transatlantic business travel will hit BA hardest. At the same time Open Skies allows new entrants to redeploy aircraft from other less profitable routes to LHR (probably the transatlantic routes). I foresee a bloodbath in this market.

BA has not been swift enough to build upon it's dominant transatlantic market position to broaden it's network to other critical business destinations like China, India and the Far East. Other carriers are far better positioned in these markets and I feel it was a huge strategic error by BA to effectively place most of it's eggs in the transatlantic basket.

The other thing which tends to happen during periods of recession, is that customers become far more choosy and less inclined to suffer poor service, as carriers fight hard to win their business and net fares reduce.

BA also appears to have made the choice to focus its total product proposition on the seat and hard product whilst the soft product (service, food, wine etc.) has been pared. So long as customers have been prepared to pay the asking price this is not in itself a bad strategy, however it is a strategy which is very difficult to reverse when the market becomes much more discrimintaing. BA has found this to its cost at least twice during the 1990's and it is a shame that lessons were not learned from prior experience.