I'm pleased that Arann / Stobart are expanding beyond a single contract but I'm not convinced on FlyBE.
The Loganair franchise works because it prevents Flybe having to complicate the fleet with 30-seaters and dealing with the oddities of the internal Irish market.
However Stobart will be operating ATRs and the '72 is only marginally cheaper to operate than the Q400. Add on Stobart's profit margin and I don't see how it would be anyway advantageous to Flybe over just operating Q400s on the route.