You simply cannot compare like for like on this.
A Dash 8Q400 has 78 seats, compared to 150 or so on an Easy A319. or 189 on a 737-800 with a Harp on the tail.
There are about 8 per day to BFS or BHD from both Easy and Ryanair, plus loads of NI flights from Manchester too.
Thus on any day, there's an awful lot of seats to fill. 15/16 December is a Monday out, Tuesday back, which is a quiet time of week, certainly on the return.
Compared to this, the 78 seats 4 times a day and that flybe often have 70+ on board at this time of year, Midweek included, means that you would be better comparing Friday Evening costs from LPL to BFS, which would probably yield differnt figures I'm sure!
When you look at a Dash with your £200 ticket, remember there's folk sat near you who paid less than £70 all in, and plenty who paid under £100 all in too, All in including all the hidden moans, probably half the plane actually.
Late bookers obviously get hit with higher fares, but remember, Ryan and Easy require a pretty much full aircraft to break even, the costs of those shiny new Airbus or Boeings is a lot higher, as is the fuel and other costs.
Thus they'll reduce fares as required to ensure they fill seats.
Flybe fly thinner routes and operate smaller regional planes that don't need to be full. They know that for part of the year, a place like the Island will NEVER fill it's aircraft. There just isn't enough people who want to travel. So, they operate smaller kit with more rotations to minimise losses on those quiet days.
On really quiet times, they drop rotations to stop flying empty. This saves a fortune. On other days, they can aim to break even on far to middling loads, and profit on busy days. Some of those Belfast-Liverpool flights go with loads as low as 40 and that is creating HUGE losses for Ryan and Easy. You get cheap fares now, but for how much longer?
With Flybe, you can pay a bit more, but they will still be here this time next year, and hopefully the next few years after as well. You can probably guess my mortgage depends on that!
However much we imagine the importance of our lovely Isle, it's a small catchment and not busy enough for a major player. However it is too busy for a little outfit that can't invest in big enough kit.
Quite frankly, the Q400 is the perfect size for the Island's trunk routes. The answer to LGW on Fridays is another rotation, or for the next year or so, overspill onto RE's LCY-IOM. They'll have plenty of seats spare anyway....