From the tenders there was BMI and Stobart. BMI i believe scored circa 89% and Stobart scored circa 68%.
At the weekend I noticed that G-CKAF positioned to Bristol after doing the morning STN rotation. I wonder if they would consider this even as a revenue flight on a weekly basis to start with rather than fly empty.
Stobart may have been the better option on route development, however given the outcry when a prop was used to serve the current route i imagine a jet based airline would have been the preference.
Would they have used one of the 175's on lease from flybe to service it?