I think the big problem is finacial for new pilots. Both integrated and modular training costs a great deal of money and very few of those who train don't take up a loan with a house as seccurity or some other type of loan. All new pilots want to get a job which makes them able to in some way pay off their debt, and the fastet way to do this is to fund a type-rating and start working at perhaps ryan or easy...
Like you said On speed on profile, there might be a lot of jobs out there with small companies but the problem is there aren't enough jobs for all pilots and most of the jobs doesnt pay enough money. And like I said about the MEP range it's most likly going to die. There aren't a lot of airports who are going to accept aircrafts driven by 100 LL anymore because it's a big expence for them as well...
As seen from the website there are a lot of companies in the UK who seams to be operating smaller aircrafts but this is uniqe to the UK I belive. I dont know of any operators in the entire scandinavian region who operate anything smaller than a twin turbo-propp.
If anyone knows of any companies who do operate MEP's anywhere else in the EU please post let us know...