Also in response to Jamie2k9:
As Ryaniar and Easyjet couldn't both operate it from Liverpool why is MAN going to be different a few miles down the road. By the end if next March one of them will drop MAD but which one it remains to be seen
I consider MAN and DUB to be fairly similar markets, and if DUB can support 4-5 daily MAD, Im fairly confident MAN can support a 9 weekly service.
At the end of the day, there are a lot of routes that work at MAN that probably wouldnt at LPL, the prime example being Bremen. Ryanair moved it 'a few miles down the road', and it went from being a route with 80%+ load factors to being dropped. So it seems that 'few miles' makes a difference.
Ryanair has the low fares going for it, easyjet has the 2 big bases at each end, so, unless the 2 rumoured new flights of Air Europa and Air Nostrum come online, I dont see RYR or Easy going anywhere.