A lot of mixed opinions about HUY.
IF Jump got off the ground, I would think that the 146 is too big for domestic markets out of HUY. With the possible exception of Belfast, London Gatwick and Jersey.
The HUY-Dusseldorf flights were operated by Skyrover with an SD330. Dusseldorf would be a desirable addition for the future, Air Berlin would be good for the route with an F100 on say a Monday, Friday and Sunday.
KLM WILL NOT leave Humberside, due to the lack of competition on the route, yield is relatively high.
HUY has proven in the past that it DOES have a large enough catchment area, for example, there were over 30 IT flights this summer/week, more than MME, EXT, BOH and NWI. HUY had for years had a pax throughput higher than most of these, with the exception of MME. DSA will dilute the market further, but there will still be a considerable market there. The majority of HUY's pax come from the Yorkshire Coast, Hull, Cleethorpes/Grimsby, Lincoln and S....horpe, and so for them, HUY will still involve less travelling time than DSA.
In terms of Eastern expanding at HUY, I cannot see this happening, high cost business routes are not what HUY needs, although a HUY-BRU on a Jetstream would work.
Gill Airways' CDG route WAS performing well, for a new route, it was the financial difficulties that Gill got into, that sealed the fate for any non-NCL based a/c.
Again, the theme seams to rest with Flybe. being the most appropriate operator for expansion at HUY, they have the perfect a/c in terms of size for regional and domestic routes to the likes of Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, London LGW, Jersey, Southampton, Paris CDG and Amsterdam. I am not sure if the 146 would have probems reaching the sunspots like Alicante, Malaga and Palma, but with fleet replacement on the cards in the next few years, a 737 or 319 could handle these easily. One based 737/319 doing something like a 4/3 AGP/FAO split in the morning and a 4/3 ALC/PMI split in the afternoon would work. The key is not to overkill. It is no good if someone barges in with A320s or large 737s, the market is not big enough.
Regards
Mike