This whole thing makes very little sense to me.
The two routes which have been cited as beneficiaries of this fund so far are DND-STN and NQY-LGW. But both of these routes are PSOs, and as such they can be more or less totally funded.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think this latest tranche of 19 routes are being proposed for PSO support (which would require OJEU notification, open calls for tenders, etc.). Rather, they are just being put forward for "ordinary" support under this Regional Election Support Fund or whatever it's called.
So what level is this "ordinary" support? Well, have a look at the
DfT guidance document, specifically 2.6 and 2.12(v):
Startup aid offered cannot exceed 50% of airport charge.
The UK would normally expect airports to have published airport charges on their website and for this to act as the basis
for the amount of revenue eligible for aid.
So, the available funding will be a maximum of 50% of airport charges, and only in the case of airports with <3 million passengers per year. (The document states that for airports between 3 and 5 million passengers per year, an individual case needs to be made to the EC demonstrating exceptional circumstances, and the bar is set very high.)
I look at the list of the 19 routes and I struggle to see many that would be moved from loss to profit by a 50% discount on landing fees and PSC at one end of the route. There are some (Carlisle) which have effectively been pre-announced and which are obviously looking for a bit of extra dosh to reduce the inevitable losses. There are others (LBA-EDI) which don't seem to be eligible unless some sort of "exceptional" case can be made. In general, flybe in particular seem to have just tossed a whole pile of possible future routes into the mix in the hope that some might be approved.
Is it just me or is this a heap of nonsense?