There certainly is an element of frustration building up within the local community, with word going around recently that 'only' Spanish and Portugese holiday destinations are likely to be on offer. I assume this may be linked with the EMB-195 situation, although it is starting to look as if even those destinations might not be practical with that aircraft.
I am surprised that the Q400 is totally ruled out to serve those destinations - surely it has the range and a reasonable capacity. Does anyone know the relative block times on, say, SEN-PMI for the two aircraft?
One thing is certain, and that is that RAL could not be trying harder to attract scheduled operators - I know that from my recent contacts with them - and they know that summer 2007 is the crunch time. If no services are in place by then, the credibility of their plans must be in doubt.
There is definitely no question of going ahead with construction of the new terminal/train station without a certain level of scheduled services being in place, of that I am sure.
As always, it is the classic 'chicken and egg' situation.
I would disagree with Tilewood that any comparisons can be made with London City and Guernsey - the former has a unique situation and a huge, high yield business traffic-base on its doorstep sufficient to make it economical for operators to tailor their equipment to the runway constraints, while the latter, being an island with large tourist and business traffic potential, means operators have no other option but use it. I agree that both cases do illustrate that SEN's runway is suitable for the viable operation of certain aircraft types, but it simply does not have the imperatives that LCY and GCI enjoy.