Thanks for the info Knock 63, its good to see them using the 175 on the route...I missed it by 7 days! The 175 has a similar capacity to the Dash 8 so it is unlikely to be a one off operational swap. We'll probably see a mix of the two aircraft types on the route from now on as more 175s are delivered to flybe to replace the turboprops.
In terms of passenger numbers, they were up in September but down in October. There were fewer flights during the summer than 2011 so those numbers are not relevant for comparison. From my experience of using the service the loads have been fairly steady throughout, naturally a bit busier during the summer months.