Both Ryanair and easyJet had good loads on the Budapest when they operated it at different times - very good in summer.
This summer for example Ryanair's BUD route has had monthly loads factors from May to September as follows: 91%, 93%, 93%, 93%, 87%. Winter lfs are usually in the 70s and 80s% range.
Presumably the loads aren't good enough to make the money that would keep the route running, at least in winter. I remember last winter or the winter before that Ryanair axed all its BUD flights for about six weeks because of a dispute with the BUD airport authorities over charges.
Milan has gone from feast to fast. For about 18 months from 2007 Ryanair and easyJet competed daily throughout the year to their versions of Milan - FR to BGY and U2 to MXP. For the most part they diluted each other's loads.
easy pulled out of Milan first and Ryanair reduced it to 3 x weekly this summer. Summer loads have been ok, good in high summer with 85% in July and 90% in August this year.
Rzeszow is gone for the winter after monthly lfs of 91% to 95% in July-September.
It just shows that high loads don't guarantee a route and that the underlying yield is always paramount.
As for new Ryanair routes, no-one can say they are not adventurous at BRS.
Since the base opened in 2007 the following routes have been tried and discontinued - some were seasonal:
Derry
Dinard
Grenoble
Katowice
Salzburg
Scezecin
Shannon
Cagliari
Eindhoven
Pau
Perpignan
Montpellier
Toulon
Trieste
Bydgoszcz
Gdansk was taken up after easyJet dropped it, then Ryanair dropped it only to bring it back this summer and it is being retained for winter. Summer lfs have been mainly decent to very good at 79%, 84%, 92%, 93% and 89% for the main summer months May-September.
It's a bit of a conundrum to think where else they might try. Some of the axed routes could be brought back I suppose as Gdansk was.
I presume Reus (previously a year round route) will return next summer but it remains to be seen if Rzeszow and Bergamo will as well.