I suspect HMB has more "skin in the game" than other posters, and his analysis is at least as realistic as the other more optimistic posts - he also quite rightly focuses on the greater benefit to the local economy of based units rather than having the same number of flights from other bases.
The North East is a peripheral area and unless something changes drastically, will always remain weaker and poorer than other areas - when the economy catches a cold, we sneeze first.
It's this that will have a greater impact on the development of the airport than the individual strategies of airlines and their comings and goings.