Nutloose - when were you last in Carlisle? The police have a new station at Durranhill (...and they had to be accommodated temporarily in the city centre because the floods ruined the original station). Plus the fire brigade now has two new stations. A new bypass has now opened providing better access from West Cumbria to the M6 (without the need to travel through the city centre). Also the bypass shortens the time people from the west of the city will need to get to the airport as it ends at the Kingstown junction which means it is just then a 10 min drive along the A69 to reach the airport.
Also the Sands Centre does an ok job at attracting acts now (years ago it seemed to have been built to solely house Daniel O'Donnell concerts but the growing student population has started to attract many comedians, Lee Evans, Sarah Millican, etc.). Plus the town centre is a lot better than many I've seen.
I was born in Cumbria, grew up in Carlisle and still go back frequently. I really want to see the airport developed from something more than it is just now.
I must admit I struggle to believe a route with that frequency to SEN will work because of the frequency and journey time of the train to London. A link to a major hub is needed for both incoming and outgoing passengers. There are a lot of SMEs based at the old 14MU which is now a large industrial estate (which is also on the bypass) and I know of some companies there that are dealing with businesses overseas and could do with a link to a hub. Once daily on a prop would probably be sufficient. The council would probably need to step in to assist with marketing initially though as past attempts at linking London have often suffered from a lack of publicity.