I don’t by the “They were the first to fly in the Ash Cloud” line for a couple of reasons, firstly, the trip between PLH & NQY is 15 mins at the most and is transited at 4,000ft. Secondly All Class A airspace was closed, but ASW allows flying outside controlled airspace. This meant they could conduct their flights below the ash cloud. A meagre trip between PLH & NQY proved nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Unfortunately Eastern bought a business that lost £3.9m last year. For an airline with just 5 airframes this is absolutely massive. It was in trouble way before Flybe jumped on the NQY-LGW route, but yes, it was probably the final nail in the coffin.