Based on the biggest airports from October 2023's passenger stats, SOU is 21st in terms of percentage recovery from October 2019 - 41%. The majority of bigger airports are over 80% - ABZ, LCY and CWL are also below 80% Bournemouth and Bristol have increased passenger numbers.
Flybe's Dash-8's had 82 seats, compared to LM's 145's at 49 and EZY's 319's at 156.
I agree that a that a diversity of operators is a good thing