But again, you seem to be missing the point.
Flybe has at some stage, decided that it cannot open LBA-NQY by traditional means (EI, without a government money).
Later on, it has decided that it can open a very similar route without that government money, at an airport not exactly a million miles away from LBA.
The point is, what criteria were looked at for the government to say 'yes, we can clearly see that you cannot operate without money from us', when, looking at the bigger picture, there seems to be no real tangible reason why the LBA route could not have been opened without public money given they have done exactly that down the road?