Originally Posted by
mart901
Remember the route attracts subsidy.
While MAN doesn't attract subsidy, the STN PSO is likely to have covered all the fixed costs of operating the aircraft (lease rental, crews etc) so as long as the MAN route doesn't need more crew, then it only has to cover its marginal costs (fuel, landing fees, ATC, crew duty pay, and incremental maintenance costs) - it's effectively a "free" aircraft so that certainly would improve the economics (unless the PSO authority is clawing back some of the funding, and there has been no mention of that).