How does slot allocation at LCY work?
Rumour has it that LCY does no longer allocate slots for aircraft smaller than 70 seats, so the slots for a new Eastern service cannot come from the airport's slot pool but must have been acquired on the grey market from Euromanx. I suppose as soon as an airline goes bust, the slots are automatically returned to the slot pool, so the transfer technically must have taken place before the liquidators were called in. However, I seem to remember a rumour that the Euromanx slots actually were slots held by Flybe that were leased to Euromanx. If this was true, I would find it somewhat surprising if Flybe allowed Eastern to use the slots (not sure if the Flybe involvement is true at all - seems a bit unlikely given Flybe's own operation at LGW and LTN and the fact that slots are quite sought after at LCY so that Flybe could have long cashed in on them).