Flybe wont easily pack in the Manchester route, the codeshares with EK, VS and AF are a big money maker for the airline, same for Birmingham and Gatwick.
Easyjet moving in on Manchester, and possibly Birmingham (if the rumours here are true) is a smart move in for the kill of the real low cost airline market. Bmibaby doesnt exactly have the best record for on time performance, loads, or route sustainability. Loads today for the Stansted flights are around the 20s or 30s per flight, thats not exactly paying the bills on a 737 (whereas a Flybe dash breaks even at around a dozen or so customers); and by comparison Luton, on its 1st couple of days in BHD was nearly completely full...my two cents anyway.#
My own opinion (and yes not all will agree) is that the Luton flights going back to BFS is a good thing, the amount of extensions at BHD over the last year because of the U2-195/196 is scary. Keep BFS for the low costs, and BHD for the business men, regional/rural UK traffic and long haul connections.