I believe that a Stobart vehicle has bought the 3 E195s from their previous lessor, essentially they are stuck with them.

I have suggested elsewhere that Stobart might put their planned flights for sale via the Ryanair website but not a true franchise as with Aer Lingus or flyBe. Im sure there are a lot of reasons that Stobart may not wish to do this, but the exposure it would give STK flights would be useful and it would further Ryanair's aim of becoming the Amazon of travel.

Im not saying this is something that Stobart should do, but it would allow them to avoid having to launch an entire customer facing brand/wbesite/booking engine should the flyBe arrangement end.

that sounds like a very good idea to me

But anyone with a calculator could have worked that out before signing off the deal. So why would Stobart do such a crazy thing as enter into a deal for 3 aircraft that they cannot turn a profit on?

Given that 150+ Embraer 195 are in service worldwide, it appears that it is possible to make a profit with the aircraft in principle. If flybe cannot, it does not necessarily mean that Stobart cannot as well (altough probably not with the type of operation they are currently used for).

It was the cost of leasing the aircraft from their owner that virtually precluded Flybe operating them at a profit, not it's operating cost if you are operating them as their owner as is now effectively the case.

Err yes it is....knowing the facts mean that it's true. The E175's were purchased when Jim French got a bit carried away and he paid through the nose for them...the 195s were purchased at reasonable rates at the time but the cost of operating them was disproportionate and hence they were parked and NOT the 175s until someone saw the "opportunity" to underwrite them.

More route suspensions at SEN
 

Looks like that Stobart is pulling the plug earlier on some of the SEN routes. According to Flybe timetable Glasgow and Vienna end at the end of October.

Most other E95 routes (but DUB, CGN and LYS) are terminated in early January when the lease deal with Flybe ends. Looks like there will be only one E95 left at SEN from January plus possibly some wet leases for Lyon and Cologne. I had a quick look and Cologne seems to be operated by an ATR in February.

To me it looks that Stobart has generally revised their approach for own flying at SEN and this is not just about possibly moving their operations to another sales platform / franchise. The Flybe franchise may even continue.

Not particularly good news I am afraid. Waiting what crap Messrs Brady and Jones will try to spin this time.

In fairness nearly all the routes announced late 2016 have survived and even better most will be operated by others in 2018. The "domestics" that followed have had mixed results but Dublin has attracted solid numbers despite operating problems. Could even surpass AMS at No 1. before that long. If Manchester does survive, then for me the gamble Stobart took will have been fully justified. The airport's future looks so much better than it did less than 2 years ago.

From all the posts on this topic, it is not clear for me if Flybe (Stobart) will continue routes to smaller airports (e.g. Groningen, Caen, Antwerp, Rennes, ...) which are or will not be served by U2 or FR from SEN. I was told that load factors on these destinations are quite good with a reasonable yield. Obviously Flybe wants to avoid a fare war with the LCCs at SEN, hence they close some of the routes, as mentioned in posts earlier (the sale of their EMB195s may be the result of this route cancellation). But the ATR-routes are sustainable (under Flybe or Stobart or any other franchise set-up), unless it is too costly to keep operating a small ATR-fleet independently.
Anybody has more insight?

Unfortunately there is too much speculation taking place on the basis of too little certain information. Flybe have already indicated that the final SEN schedule will not appear until late November but there seem to be knee-jerk responses to every change as it appears in the timetable.

For the record, Stobart are not selling E195s. They bought three (from Flybe's lessor), which they leased back to Flybe prior to taking them into their own fleet. So far only one has been delivered to Stobart and is in service. The second is at Exeter presumably awaiting delivery and now reportedly in an all white paint scheme. The third is due to be delivered in November . Stobart also have two other E195s which they have dry leased from Flybe. That lease is nominally due to expire next year but has early termination options. It has been expected those aircraft would be returned to Flybe as Stobart' s new E195s arrive.

What influence do flyBe have over the franchise services STK operate from SEN?

I must agree with the above and lots of people trying to read into a cloudy crystal ball holding the business secrets not available to the public domain just yet. Less speculation please, and provide only confirmed information as it is released. Thanks.

I have always wondered too, but only the top brass know the answer.

Absolutely none. All the commercial risk is taken by Stobarts and therefore all route decisions are taken by them.

The E-jets will be in shamrocks for EIR soon enough I'd say.

With FR picking up at SEN, what better time to reduce the BE services. I very much doubt they'd have been profitable but did provide the cover of a 'growing' airport.

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Realistically, the whole purpose of Stobart Air SEN operation was to put the airport on the radar of the airline industry and to use it as a guinea pig. That apparently has been successful. In general, if it would be such a great idea that airports have their own airline, it would happen every where. In reality, it is not done. Admittedly, Stobart Air (now) has a much larger footprint outside SEN nowadays thanks to the Aer Arann takeover, but in the beginning it was a SEN-airline..

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No - the Aer Lingus flying pre-dates the SEN ops by a good few years.