STATE AID FOR UNVIABLE ROUTES
How on earth is this legal? Private companies given tax payers money to help projects that cannot stand on their own two feet. Routes that do actually work (just) are not only not financially helped but in reality extremely damaged due to the few passengers that make them viable choosing the routes helped by state aid. It is a catch 22 unfair system of failure from an utterly clueless government when it comes to aviation.
For instance Newcastle to Belfast flights will now be damaged with a very real potential prospect of drop in frequency. It is often 2 or 3 passengers that can make a mid day service, for example, either profitable or not profitable.
This is because the government cannot seem to get it into their thick skulls that there are too many airports in this small country. The issue is not to pay for every little struggling airport but to make sure each region has an airport that is well connected and fit for purpose and then let the market and catchment decide.
I would put a very large bet on the Doncaster to Frankfurt route being given the go ahead (with tax payers money). This after one of the world's most successful airlines - easyjet could not make Amsterdam even work. Private companies given tax payers money while neighbouring private companies are given none.