Techproblem
With one aircraft away for maintenence EMX are operating their LPL and MAN rotations with the Aer Arran ATR72 flying IOM-LPL-MAN-IOM. Not that much different to BE's operation a few weeks ago (due to tech problems/missing crew etc).
However to enable them to do this they are combining two LPL's and two MAN's into one trip a couple of times a day. That means they are putting pax for four flights onto one aircraft (albeit a 72 seater). That suggests to me they are seriously down on pax bookings, otherwise they wouldn't be able to cram those travelling on one plane.
You say BB came back. Nope - that's the one supposed to be going for maintenance end of this week, if other posters are to be believed. BC is away at the moment.
However inconvenient these tactics are for pax, they are not the actions one would expect to see if the airline was heading into financial difficulties. Whilst I'm not suggesting for one minute there is a problem, I'm sure the directors are aware of their responsibilities and would not consider trading while insolvent. They would thus not condone the taking of bookings, or incurring costs such as aircraft leasing if they did not have any hope of operating or paying the bills.
What they are doing though is encouraging the paying public to go elsewhere if they want a reliable service. BE had this problem last year and EMX did well as a result. This year the boot is on the other foot.
Whatever the reason for the disruption, they are going to have to do a heck of a lot to encourage Joe Public back.