Re the 'much-loved flybe brand': Just my two penn'orth, but I never had anything but good experiences with flybe; even on one trip when things went wrong through no fault of theirs, their service was great.
Just one person's opinion I know, but I do suspect that there will still be a lot of goodwill out there for the company and the brand. I've always had good experiences with Loganair as well, but I longingly remember when I could get from Newcastle to Guernsey or Devon (a couple of my favourite places in these isles) for a fraction of what I'd have to pay now!
And I've said it on here before, but whoever came up with the 'flybe' name, and didn't see that the first smarta*se who got delayed by 10 minutes would christen them 'flymaybe', shouldn't be in marketing. Don't have the figures to hand but I'm sure there were several years in a row they had the best On-Time Performance for any airline at Newcastle.