I too cannot understand painting the aircraft prior to its introduction but maybe BAe paid for this as part of the lease agreement??? I guess they weren't expecting to find the level of corrosion that they have, after all these are relatively young airframes.
Interestingly, it does not seem to be Flybe's intention to replace the 146's with either 737's or A319's. It now looks like 737/319 aircraft will also be required in addition to whatever order will replace the 146's. Maybe Flybe will have a 3 type fleet??? There appears to be a very clear need for a jet with capacity in the region of 120 seats as well as the Q400 and Boeings/Airbuses.
Personally I think the C-Series is too far off, however I'm sure very attractive terms could be aquired. Embraer only have 15 firm orders from Swiss for the EMB195. With Lufthansa's aquisition of Swiss and their recent additions of further 146's to Eurowings and Air Dolomiti's fleets it would appear that Swiss's Embraer order may now be in questionable. How likely is it that Lufthansa will get Swiss to retain its RJ100's? If this is the case then I'm sure equally impressive terms could be sourced from Embraer if they were left with no place for Swiss' 15 firm orders.
It promises to be interesting times ahead over the next few months until we hear what might happen!