Leeds base has 3 a/c but is only crewed for 2 and if you have operated to Leeds you will probably agree its up in the top ten unforgiving airports in the FR network..... Quite often crews are diverting because of crosswinds outside of operating limits or FG (low cloud really as the wind is still in excess of 10kts) or too heavy for autoland for runway 32 as its too short, wet and there is a tailwind. Hence most of the time crews have to divert to LPL which puts an aircraft out of the loop therefore its easier to get another base to do the flights rather than make the LBA crew do it and possibly be out of hours for the following day. I dont think there is a crewing problem at Leeds they have enough Captains and FOs at the moment approx 10 of each for 2 aircraft. But I have been told by a friend based there that 3 captains are off to Jet 2 in the next 2 months and all are top guys that FR should have been fighting to keep.
Oh and apparently leeds is going 5/3 for the Captains summer schedule....