1. Will the service be popular since it is being operated in an all-economy configuration? Not everyone can make do with the leg room on what will a flight lasting in excess of 6 hours.

Definitely. It’s a well known fact that regional airports such as MAN and BHX have trouble getting the mainstream international carriers to fly there because they can’t attract a sufficient amount of business class traffic. Emirates do so well because they have a good economy class product.