I fear that STN will always cast its shadow restricting SEN to collecting the crumbs. The other concern is surely the profits, if there are any, they are minimal and when will the investment pay off ?
The saga reads like a failing business in the long term. Irrespective of threaders actual involvement in this industry or not, there is little profit in running 50-70 seater aircraft to many obscure destinations. If these destinations were profitably viable the LoCo would be covering them now and would have been doing so for some time.
Taking the model that applies' mainly to aviation within the EU it is cheap fares with the max number of seats per airframe (or at least the impression of a cheap seat). Most threaders are positive about the future of SEN and let us hope this is the case but surely the airport will only ever be at best a very small player?
Get real and stop believing the hype!
There are, generally, three types of airline services:
1. Major carriers from major hubs, often fed by feeder services, to worldwide destinations, and:
2. Low cost carriers operating 'point to point' services, often, with no onward (interline) connections, and:
3. 'Puddle Jumper' operations utilising 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 seater aircraft on lesser routes or on higher routes with a higher frequency of services.
Stobart Air do not fall, as I understand it, within category '1", perhaps minimally they fall within category '2' but, most certainly, they fall within category '3'.
If it is all about maximum number of seats per airframe then how do the likes of Eastern Airways, Loganair, indeed Flybe, KLM UK, Stobart Air etc. even exist?
Every airline, indeed every business, should find their place in the market, I have my own business and it took me some two years to find my business's place in the market, Stobart Air, it seems, are still trying to find their place and I, for one, wish them every success in doing so.
P.S. If at first you don't succeed then try and try again!