Well that's about 116 a week - I don't have the numbers to hand but that's probably the same as non-military arrivals by air in the Falkland Islands or similar overall. From the article about 70% are tourists - which isn't too bad
There's always a market for adventure tourism, or people ticking off remote spots from their bucket list - and these are well heeled generally - I think TH FI reckon every tourist who arrives by cruise ship kicks in £ 18 a head where by air it's £1400 a head plus of course it keeps the airport open for all the other possible uses
What was criminal was building the terminal to LHR T5 standards for a few flights a month