personally, i would go the way of ek (as much as bahrain can afford).
provide first the way (routes), and passengers will come out of the woodwork after some clever marketing.
a good marketing point would be the better transitting process (of course we'll have to work on that) without having to endure the giant that is dubai international airport.
advertising that bigger is not always better will be part of that slogan. smaller sometimes means more personal attention, no running great distances from one side of the airport to the other, not getting left behind etc etc etc. market that point for all it is worth. in every case, making subtle inferences that dubai international airport has a lot of undesirable points that the astute traveller knows too well.
i'm sure this will appeal to at least a good portion of the travellig public.
and of course, new planes sooner than later.