KLM stats
The UK CAA figures for August show 4855 pax on the Amsterdam Manston route, 156 a day. Sounds reasonable for a new route. I know from sources at KLM that any new route is expected to take at least a year to bed in, route financials are planned accordingly. I would be very surprised if these pax numbers are not in line with KLM expectations.
September figures will not be published until mid October.
KLM needs all the feed traffic it can get from UK and Ireland, it's fighting the Gulf carriers variously at LHR, BHX, MAN, NCL, GLA and DUB, and is fighting EZY at a host of other airports in UK on short haul to AMS. Emirates only began serving AMS/DXB in 2010 and are now at a daily 380 and 777. Further eroding KLM long haul business to the east and south.
Expect to see more not less of KLM in the UK regions for those reasons. Their target is usually 3 or 4 rotations a day on short haul to AMS to maximise connecting links. They calculate that a route takes 3-4 years to reach that level of maturity.
FF