Flybe could easily have opened up a base at Southend. This could have involved selling the Gatwick slots (lots of money there) or could have simply involved an additional London base. I would have thought that the following routes were (and continue to be) commercially viable are perhaps (* means if LGW base was closed):
- Paris-CdG (possibly, obviously Channel Tunnel implications)
- Brussels
- Guernsey
- Isle of Man
- Newcastle
- Newquay
- Frankfurt
- Hannover
- Nantes*
- Bergerac*
So a base would probably be possible. Shutting up shop at LGW would obviously affect loads at first, but press coverage from easyJet opening has helped to give the airport a higher profile than when Arran duplicated routes (!) from Luton.