EI-BUD> Point 1 is an interesting one and one I've thought about myself. Traveling from Belfast to Derry the other week, I was astonished to see RYR billboards in Dungiven (about 15 miles from LDY!) advertising their flight offers from BELFAST CITY!!!
I have relatives in Derry who seem to remember similar billboards actually IN Derry!!! Crazy!! Maybe RYR feel they don't have to advertise flights from LDY. Who knows the logic?
The demand is obviously there; why else would companies such as the Airpoter be able to thrive?
There are several carriers who could offer an extra rotation or two to the LON airports. Flybe, Easyjet and Aer Lingus are the obvious ones. No doubt if any of them did RYR would either compete aggressively, or threaten the council with withdrawal.
If I was involved with management of LDY, I'd be ramming home the point to RYR that they got the runway extension (at the cost of £5m according to the BBC) that they demanded and now it's time for some payback; and I don't think a half-ar$ed service to STN/LTN which is essentially of no use to businesses who may want a day-trip is that thank you. The messing around with timetables (eg: PIK daily, then four/wk, then daily, then five/wk etc etc) doesn't help.
As I highlighted earlier, perhaps LDY having RYR is actually a hindrance to development, not a help.