I sincerely hope they manage to pull it off. So many good friends driving delivery vans right now who deserve to be back in the air. I would think Southampton and Birmingham may well be the most likely places to start, with Manchester shortly afterwards. It's often true that the price of the seat is often inverse to the size of the aircraft. If you aren't
a fortune in bent leases to Uncle Jack's kids fund, the Q400 is an excellent aircraft, 78 seats for the operating cost of the 50 seaters. If they get the cost base right, they can could compete very well indeed.
A Q400 on UK domestic routes will be as fast as a 145 within a few minutes and half the cost to run, so should be a bloodbath. One thing they need to learn is the mistakes of the customer experience. Disinterested 3rd party staff enforcing draconian hand baggage rules, lack of flexibility in booking and travelling. These things put folk off. The crews were the absolute best. I'd love to see them back where they belong.