For those who say passengers don't care about aircraft type... The BHX discussion made it to local radio in the West over the last two days.
Several callers commented negativity abut Aer Arann operating the route, concerned about aircraft size and ability to cater for multiple old and wheelchair pax. Comments included higher prices, "not enough capacity on small plane", "lots of delays", "they won't send the plane", "you'd be thrown around in those things" from one caller.
Radio chat shows always taken with a pinch of salt but those were the same complaints often heard about the PSO service. EIR have some work to do in winning back trust after their poor history at NOC.