I loved FLYBE too, they opened-up so many opportunities for us in Southampton, and I frequently used them to destinations as diverse as Amsterdam, Dublin, Newcastle, Dusseldorf and even Skiathos!
When I was a regular FLYBE user, on nearly all of the flights I took many of the passengers were people undertaking 'friend and family' visits, on some flights these made up the majority of the passengers. Early mornings and mid-evenings, it was mainly business traffic, often out and back in the day. There were also a surprisingly large number of passengers on their way to join a cruise at Southampton, particularly I found on flights from Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin.
Although the travel world has been shot to pieces by COVID, much of this traffic will surely return. Whilst we all hope that the runway extension gains approval, I still feel all those who support SOU must remain positive, as, although we won't have gained what we are hoping for, we have lost nothing. Southampton has a great future as a super little airport, and will surely bounce back and will continue to serve the needs of the region just as it always has done. And, with the likes of Eastern, Blue Islands, Aurigny, Logonair, BA City Flyer, and KLM stepping in, we won't have all our eggs in one basket. Onwards and upwards!