The potential losses from a New York service are actually unlikely to reach the sort of levels being seen in terms of subsidy on the airlink, and in any case, they can be contractually capped to limit both DL's exposure and WAG's, so that argument holds no water I am afraid.
Have I been in touch with the assembly? Yes, I have many friends both in WAG and in the Assembly. However, this is a political issue supported by the Deputy First Minister (if not his party) and as such the only way to change his mind is to change the level of general support for the project amongst the public AND the elected members.
We have to take notice of PC. They are the party in coalition government in Wales!! However we may see their views as odd, they cannot be ignored. And even a stopped clock is right twice a day...
The IOM flight does not connect with the airlink, so to say that Wales wouldn't have got the IOM without the airlink is not correct. Sorry. That shows how a route should be run.