Hi Big Al'
Allegedly, all the operators at Humberside and Leeds have closely looked at Finningly.
Obviously Leeds is very good at what it does, and would concievably only lose any traffic to Finningly that operates on the margins due to the inaccessibility to LBA anywhere from the East or South of the Leeds and Bradford catchment area.
Humberside, I believe, are crapping themselves. Finningly is only 30 miles down a very easy drive on the motorway, and there's nothing that operates from HUY that couldn't operate more cheaply or efficiantly from Finningly, including scheduled flights.
Eastern Airways are based at Humberside, but a little mole tells me that they've been in deep discussion with Peel about moving their entire base there. Additionally, KLM UK have allegedly also been in discussion about reducing, or even terminating, the AMS connection from HUY once Finningly opens, as the customer base would be so much greater, and Finningly would be much more accessible to there customers.
The other alledged airlines are the low cost outfits, Ryanair and EZY, and long haul charter operators. Additionally, freight would be an obvious contender - a fickle market, but it's got to be on the cards, and I wouldn't be suprised to see at least one of the major jet charter operators open a base there.
As for the name, who knows, how about Bawtry International?
