Blimey,
Would not want to be around when the fur starts to fly if FlyBe do pitch for an ABZ from HUY!!! some of those ex RAF Jet Provosts that fly out of HUY might get tooled up again!!
My personal feeling is that a smallish turboprop operation ATR/Jetsream/Beech/Dornier should be profitable on the 'classic' short hop 'biz trip routes' Brussels/Paris/London City, as mentioned earlier they were available from HUY at one point or another (except perhaps City), not aware that any of the routes were failures in their own right, but more likely pushed out of slots due to demand at peak times, especially at 'hub' airports, the equation being:
20T@£15/T or 250T@£15/T!
If an operator could slot some 'code-share' onto the flight enough to cover part of the operating costs I would have thought it likely to work. Although no code share Alpha1 Airways shows that small is beautiful and can work.
