I would say that the "fixed price" contracts provide the security.
Honey Badger, L159 or ALCA, take your pick.
We dont know the situation with the subsidies so I'm not going to comment.
What I can see is Logan have consolidates the aircraft at NCL likely with another E145 thus reducing the need for engineer support at MME and lowering their cost base. They ll also be hoping for an uplift on the ABZ out of NCL as MME is going 1 a day. MME to ABZ is usually the stronger route than NCL to ABZ. So this is really a way of putting off another operator coming onto the MME-ABZ route.
None of the routes Logan operated were really attempted properly.
Any UK or Ireland, (except for the likes of Newquay and Jersey), route that is operated by the likes of Eastern or Logan needs to be twice a day to provide a true alternative to the train or flights from NCL or LBA.
Ryanair and the like are a different kettle of fish.
If that were to happen moving forward then we could say that it's been tried and failed.
Belfast 4 times a week with the alternatives up and down the road is not going to work.