Loganair has beefed up its islands schedule by starting new and additional services from Orkney and Lewis to London and Southampton respectively.
For the first time, passengers can now fly from Kirkwall to the UK’s capital with a new twice-weekly service and although the aircraft makes a stop in Dundee before continuing to London City Airport, passengers are not required to disembark.
Total flight time using the 48-seat ATR aircraft is three-and-a-half hours with fares starting at £62 one-way and includes a 15kg baggage allowance.
Orkney and Stornoway-boarding passengers are entitled to use the Air Discount Scheme (ADS), providing 50% off the core fare on eligible services.
The ADS provides residents of Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles, Islay, Jura, Colonsay, Caithness and north-west Sutherland with cheaper flights in a bid to tackle high air fares in peripheral parts of the Highlands and Islands.
New markets for islands
Loganair chief commercial officer Luke Lovegrove said: “Loganair has been flying from Orkney for more than 50 years, but this is the first time we’ve been able to launch a service that will unlock the island to tourists from London and beyond.
“The new service will be a welcome boost to the economy in Kirkwall, while also connecting customers to Dundee on our one-stop, same plane service.”
For her part, destination manager at Destination Orkney, Ailsa Heal added: “We welcome the introduction of Loganair’s service between Orkney, Dundee and London as it gives us the opportunity to promote the islands to a number of new markets.
“In three-and-a-half hours, visitors based in and around the UK capital, and Tayside, can be enjoying a completely different pace of life in Orkney.
“The service also gives Orcadians the chance to spend some time in London or Dundee, in addition to helping boost business connections between the islands and the two new Loganair destinations.”
The Scottish carrier’s summer schedule now also includes additional services from Stornoway to Southampton, where passengers can connect to a large number of cruise ships.
The 49-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jet aircraft transits from Stornoway to Southampton via Glasgow, although again, passengers flying to the south coast can remain on board for a total flight time of 3h 25min.
Loganair chief commercial officer Luke Lovegrove added: “We have been inundated with requests for an improved service into the south of the UK from Stornoway.
“We take pride in facilitating growth in interconnectivity across the UK, and by increasing our frequency on key routes like this, we can better serve our customers.”
Heathrow expansion
Separately, Loganair also recently announced it is to expand at London Heathrow and has renewed its calls to the UK Government to reform competition remedies to make slots at the UK’s premier airport permanently available for UK regional connectivity.
The airline has secured access to 30 additional pairs of slots each week at Heathrow under a lease arrangement with British Airways, which takes effect in May.
The slots will enable Loganair to develop regional connectivity from UK domestic destinations to Heathrow offering point-to-point access into London itself and a range of new worldwide connections via the busy hub.
The slot arrangement between the airlines comes as Loganair has again asked the UK Government to initiate action with the European Commission to repatriate control of competition remedies dating back to 2012 under which these Heathrow slots were previously made available to other airlines – mainly to fly domestic routes.
Loganair chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said: “Having taken these important first steps ourselves to provide new connectivity to and from the UK regions under this arrangement, it’s now essential for the UK Government to initiate the process needed to reform competition remedies to provide access to Heathrow for the UK regions.”
Loganair is the UK’s largest regional airline. The Glasgow-based carrier operates a fleet of 38 aircraft and carries more than 1.5 million passengers each year
Conversation