there was quite a bit of publicity for Loganair ok, but I dont think it was negative... A lot of the people who actually use the service welcome their decision, and will have a nice warm glow about the company that gave them the choice
The section of the population protesting most loudly are not likely to be the most frequent air travel users.
As to how long Bmi have been planning this, not long enough to have any means of booking tickets or timetable details on their website yet, despite less than 6 weeks till they start flying...
If their timetable is good for onward connections from Edinburgh they could actually pinch quite a few SYY- GLA customers from Brit Regional or whatever they are called now.