Nothing much wrong with STN
I think STN is actually not bad for a BAA airport, sure LGW is now in a different league since BAA sold it, but STN works, what drags it down, how can i put this is the FR experience, it even has a "luggage repacking area complete with scales (€1 fee !!)" yes it caters for the horde of guest workers from Eastern Europe that pick our veg from Eastern England, to spend a couple of hours in the terminal is to watch a third world experience of low expectation & delivery in terms of customer service, with families putting extra clothes on, re packing and sharing out luggage to achieve the same average bag weight that they started out with!!
From what i can see the people who can afford to fly go with Easyjet, the rest go with Ryanair.
STN's problem is that FR call the shots now, will a new owner have the balls to say to FR that the fee take it or leave it? It will always be difficult to attract new business knowing that FR will jump on any competition in a flash, sometimes less is more.