"Interesting report on local TV, apparently Flybe were approached some time ago with a take-over request & have been putting money into EMX until recently."
Why on earth would FlyBE do this. The whole purpose of flooding the MAN and LPL markets with cheap seats was to drive EMX out. Granted they might not have intended it to end like this, more likely they wanted an orderly surrender, but giving them financial support sounds very unlikely.
Regarding any deal with Govt over APD and fees, it suggests that there was a plan in place for exactly this scenario, involving the Govt and the other airlines. If that is the case, it makes it totally unforgivable that the Dash 8 was allowed to be smuggled away outside EMX's usual operating hours.
I'd imagine that a maverick MHK who has been giving the AD a hard time over the runway, could well be asking some tricky questions over this issue, before too long............
