Sad to See
I've been watching the thread and am sad to see the demise of Emerald. As another ex-JEM I know the problems entailed in keeping the operation running. I also remember the massive improvement brought about by MOB when he arrived - we went from 1 trip per frame per night to 2 to 3 (so I probably know Phileas?). The problem was, then, that the incipient pax op to the IOM and the ad-hoc charter was a step in the dark which the company, frankly, didn't really have the depth to undertake - with, shortly afterwards, only 3 or 4 crews really up to carrying out the pax jobs. Despite that, it was reasonably successful (even tho the first ever pax flight was completed with only 1 passenger and the new ac at the time, G-OJEM, took a bad birdstrike on its first positioning departure that wrecked the radome and the new paintjob (beautifully handled abort by DD, though) and had to be replaced with a far shabbier frame!). At that time the much villified MOB was, certainly, no autocrat and rarely did anything entailing ac usage without asking the opinion of a management pilot. If things changed so dramatically thereafter maybe the change was induced from above.. who knows.
Suffice to say, as with most airlines, it was always staffed with guys trying to be as professional and proficient as possible no matter what. My feelings go out to the guys, gals, and spouses, having to deal with the fallout. The very best of luck to you all.