I'm sure that if you want to put together a sale/lease back, then you don't advertise the sale element on the open market. The deal would just be done with the lessor, so this looks like a genuine disposal.
I can't imagine VLM wanting to get involved in a head to head with FlyBe on MAN, but given a clear run at LCY, I'd guess they'd do it like a shot, although they'd need to base an a/c in IOM get the business traffic, with all that involves.
Does anyone know how long the wet lease with Aer Arann on LPL has to run, as that must be factor in all this too.
It certainly looks as though Euromanx S08 will look rather different from what we have now.