AMS did really well in 2018 - up 13% to 110,784 - the best since 2008. Over 10,000 pax used the route in both September and October, the first time the has occurred since October 2010. This of course was helped by KLM using running larger planes and potentially prices were adjusted slightly in order to fill the planes. However KLM's fares from MME are still much higher than from NCL which does point to customers (I guess business pax in the main) being prepared to pay extra for the convenience. Not sure we will be getting any larger planes anytime soon as the load factor is probably only about 75% in the best months (although the 6:00am flight is usually rammed in my experience). A target may be the NWI arrangement, they have about 140,000 pax a year on the AMS route, this also has the E175 but mainly on 4 weekday rotations. Teesside-Amsterdam did 120,000+ pax a year annually from 2003-2007.
I agree JER appears to be at capacity so it is either another rotation (hard to fill) or a bigger plane.
The uplift in passengers on the ABZ route during the period of the Loganair venture points to there being a clear demand but having seen off their competitor, Eastern now appear to be more focused on yields rather than passenger numbers.
Of course the mayor has been trying to manage expectations but when the acquisition is closed, the pressure will be in for him to deliver some new routes.