Mr. Joe Thompson:

There are other scenarios. If IAG were to come to Virgin Atlantic and offer us an interline agreement on commercial terms - that is how these things happen in the course of normal commercial business between carriers which can see an opportunity to complement one another's services - we would of course be perfectly happy to engage in those conversations. However, that is most unlikely given that the routes on which we would be flowing customers from Ireland onto our long-haul network are parallel to routes or services that BA operates. That is most unlikely to happen through the normal channels. BA or IAG could give a commitment to the Irish Government in its capacity as a shareholder but the backstop of this being in legislation through the European Commission is where the precedent lies and is perhaps the most likely course of action from here.