Initially low fares to entice custom doesn't work in regional aviation. And from what I have seen the LM loads compared to the T3 loads are actually quite comparable.
From looking at tomorrow, both airlines are selling at £80ish one-way northbound and on the Thursday night return flights from Aberdeen, fares are bordering on £200 one-way. I wouldn't call that low fares in either camp!
But taking into the consideration the operational cost of a 145 to a J41 with the same loads it's easy to see who can sustain the lower load factors for longer.
That doesn't seem to be the case though. It sounds like LM are getting the higher loads?
LMs major expansion and rejigging with ultimately lead to their downfall, T3 have learned that and being burned by the partnership with the devil in Purple.
Had to laugh at that one - if that's truly what they are telling you, then best of luck to you all. The comment about being burned by the devil in Purple is comedy gold - every account I've heard is that the bloke in charge of Eastern today was the same person responsible for that purple partnership. From all that I see there is a clear objective and if Eastern has learned anything over the years, it's not totally obvious what that might be. Loganair is a much larger airline today than it was, and Eastern is a shrinking shadow of what it was in its heyday.