I would suggest that regulated routes are a major pain in the arse or rather, having to interact with yet another layer of government bull**** is a major PITA.
It's bad enough having to deal with local councils at every point on your route who uniformly view a commercial air route as a key requirement to the economic development of their region, yet are determined to tax everyone to buggery from day one of the service.
Mudgee Council a notable exception, they got their route deregulated and gave FlyDuck a huge boost to get going.
