I think we've dealt with the basics here but also if FlyBe were to apply in the UK for the route it would have to prove very substantially that it had the resources to operate it. Which of course they haven't.

BMI has tried a similar flanker (possibly a British expression !) recently and got sent packing by the UK CAA. BMI, who have a lot of Heathrow slots they use for European/domestic routes, applied for London Heathrow to Doha. They had no aircraft for this but were going to lease from Qatar AW, the Doha operator who just happen to want to increase their Heathrow services, and were going to codeshare with Qatar on the route (which Qatar already operate once daily in their own right). So it was to have an Qatar flight number, crews and aircraft, but operated on a BMI slot. It was just an attempt to sell a Heathrow slot (not directly allowed) which the CAA saw through.