I could see Belfast City coming out of this later on down the line, I wonder if they might also consider MME-IOM to indirectly compete with Eastern from Newcastle.
A part of me would also love to see a Loganair/Bmir co-operation to Bristol, say x2 daily ERJ135/145. I bet there would be a good few that would snap up a day return from MME as opposed to an enforced overnight trip by EZY from NCL.
Part of me also wishes this one had gone to Newcastle, as Norwich was the second most sought after domestic route from NCL, after Manchester.
I wonder if MME-MAN could ever work? If they could codeshare with Etihad, Cathay, Hainan, Singapore, United, even Thomas Cook and or Virgin... On a 30-odd seat Saab 340 I really don't think that would be too out of the question. Except I bet a lot of current MME pax have KLM loyalty, so convincing them to take Loganair via Manchester might be a struggle.
Another long shot would be if Eastern/Flybe decided to pair up and operate MME-SEN if they felt that Loganair might be tempted into opening up a MME-London route.
I do worry that this will all fall apart, but I could also see things hotting up on Teesside and I think first mover advantage will very much come into it.
Fingers crossed things start looking up, I wish MME all the best