Nice to see some potential good news on this thread about routes and airlines at BHX. It has been a bruising year with the loss of ZB, FI, UA, TS.....Fingers very much crossed for Air Arabia, I think there is potential for RAK too, although TUI go there, their fares are usually eye wateringly high.
Finnair have had BHX on the radar for a while - again fingers crossed. A very good option for one stop Far East flight connections.
Cathay, hmm, I would have though they would add capacity or a second frequency at MAN first before looking at BHX. Their service from MAN has been an instant success, it would be very interesting to see how many pax originate from the West Mids. for this and their flights from LHR/LGW. EK and QR manage quite happily serving all three, perhaps CX could do too. It would be the shot in the arm BHX needs right now. The fact they are 'talking' and he's made that public is good news in itself.
As for Primark Airlines, faltering is a very flattering way to describe it. I still very much doubt they will be back next year. Apparently STN and CDG doing well with bookings, I think this is where they will concentrate their ops.