Aer Arann has been good to Waterford but my own personal opinion is that they will be adsorbed by a bigger carrier within the next year, maybe Flybe
I don't see that happening, at least not with BE. The BACON takeover worked synergistically as flybe were already an established leading brand in the UK and BACON had the skilled manpower and slots. In Ireland, south of the border, BE are practically unknown. In the context of availability of credit and the circumstances of the aviation sector at the moment,
IF it came to pass that RE were struggling to an extent that they were unviable, I suspect existing carriers would stand back and then cherrypick the routes that work for them.
sr