It sounds like the end is going to be mercifully swift, and the intentions made clear soon on. Whilst it's painful for the staff, it's probably much better than months of uncertainty. Better to have Xmas planning for the future rather than worrying about it. Well done to FlyBe for having the guts to deal with the situation promptly.
I rather hope that we don't see FR land with a greater presence at BRS. A combination of FR and EZ would somewhat condemn BRS to a low-fares future, and that in turn would drive existing and potential business fliers back down the M4. Arguably we aren't good business for the airport, as we rarely do anything other than duck into the lounge - we certainly don't scour the shops for bargains.
Having done so well to get the CO route to EWR, I'd like to think that we could see some more of the middle ranking airlines coming to BRS. (Cue debate about what that means).
An ideal scenario (for me - apologies for the selfish point of view) would be LH (or Cityline) doing 3/4 rotations a day to FRA/MUC with an Avro, which would provide some decent competition to KL/AMS, without it being fatal to either route.
To end on a crazy thought; would any airline move over from CWL? Would BMI/baby want to defect to BRS?