I can't see the point in wishful thinking & maybe it's just me but if Venice isn't of sufficient interest to one operator, then why should Milan or indeed any Italian alternate be of interest to any operator ?
This is perhaps of even more concern when Venice offered a direct gateway to the Cruise ships operating out of the Med / Adriatic which should in theory add significant comfort to the load factors / revenue.
The only sense I can derive from this is there was some potential conflict between the port of Venice & these ships re access to the lagoon which cast a shadow over all such operations. I believe that in the end financial sense has persuaded the authorities to continue to allow access. Maybe Jet 2 are / were holding off until the result of this issue was determined ?