Bertie was apparently interviewed recently and said that among the issues which caused the govt's support to plummet was the whole handling of the SNN issue; EI may take the lack of meaningful govt opposition to the axing of the LHR-SNN route as "carte blanche" for the axing of t/a routes, but given the likely political reaction, one has to wonder.
Incidentally, has Dempsey appointed two new members to the EI board, as he said he'd do, about two weeks ago?