All good points David, I seem to remember that Gill Airways operated a range of routes from MME, including Paris (I think) at one stage.
There will be extreme difficulty attracting airlines of any sort with total traffic at under 200,00 pax annually. Newcastle has been experiencing this problem since its yearly pax figure dropped below 5,000,000. This is the magic figure that seems to attract new operators. It places an airport in a new category of size and growth prospects.