Just to discuss some of the points that bmibaby mentioned above;
There has only been speculation over exactly what is happening in the departure lounge. Whilst 1/6 is almost exclusively used by Ryanair, easyJet & the occasional bmibaby flights, all airlines have their own boarding procedures which would make the grid system, whilst discussed, impossible. It appears instead that Ryanair/easyJet flights will have barriers, the portable kind you see hanging around usually by Gate 5 or 6, put up at the discretion of the gate agent. Having flown from LTN the cattle grids I think are the best way to board flights without allocated seating but it isn't an opportunity for NEMA. FCA may indeed leave the tent for the reasons that you provided, and also considering that when all desks are used trying to fit in a 767 flight would create absolute chaos. Ryanair will have three desks per flight now which requires a few more desks, and the easyJet flights will now be checked-in at a desk as opposed to the counter. It's currently being worked out whether it's better to use destination specific or common checkins, which should come into force by the time the summer is well under way.
Even though UKJet are using Viking aircraft like Air Scandic did last summer, hopefully this year the company will have managed to work out a reasonable schedule. SCY took on more contracts than they had aircraft for, and did not leave in any downtime for aircraft in the event of a tech problem which caused the monstrous delays.
Does anyone know if similarly named MD-90 operator BritishJet will be returning to EMA this year?