EMA- FR and WW bases and turning into quite a big loco airport in its own right
And don't forget a strong emerging Jet2 base aswell which it would appear is doing very well - I can see them at EMA becoming very strong indeed. EMA has (at least in terms of based airlines and routes) bounced back incredibly after the EZY pull out with the new Jet 2 base and huge expansion by Baby. Loco choice of destinations by comparison at BHX is very limited. Quite often now for me the choice is to either fly direct from either BRS or EMA or via one of the European hubs from BHX, so far time and cost wise sadly BRS or EMA win - just one example, for my hols in Sept £65 to fly from EMA to Marrakesh with FR as opposed to £198 the cheapest I could find (after a lot of searching) from BHX with AF and a long conection in Paris. Even with a couple of hours of delay on the FR I will still get there quicker!
were jet2 brought in to ease any route decline
Quite possibly and if so very understandable and may I say very proactive. This is where BHX goes wrong - they just don't seem to have a plan for route decline, their options even if they had are now very limited unless they can entice Baby back