Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Lifeline Orkney flights up for renewal

Post Thumbnail

A lifeline air service covering the most remote Orkney islands is up for renewal.

The islands council has issued a contract worth £7million for an operator to take over routes between the islands for the next four years.

The key service includes the famous shortest scheduled flight in the world, linking the islands of Westray and Papa Westray.

Overall the subsidised flights serve six of Orkney’s outer north isles, including North Ronaldsay, Sanday, Stronsay and Eday – providing a key link with the Orkney Mainland.

The service has previously been delivered by Loganair, which confirmed yesterday it would be submitting a bid to continue to operate on the routes.

Loganair managing director Jonathan Hinkles said: “We’ve noted the publication of the tender documents and are looking forward to putting forward our proposals to maintain the long-standing air services within Orkney.”

The inter-island service is provided by the council under a air services public service obligation (PSO) which establishes the minimum frequencies and maximum fare levels for each of the routes to the isles.

Brian Archibald, the council’s head of marine services, engineering and transportation, said: “These are quite literally lifeline services for communities in the outer north isles.

“The two aircraft that currently operate the service carry teachers and school pupils, visiting health staff, tourists, and island residents travelling to and from Mainland Orkney for a range of appointments.

“This is a vitally important contract for the isles and their residents and for Orkney as a whole.”

The council has put considerable investment into the isles airfields in recent years, including a new terminal building which opened recently in North Ronaldsay.

Another is under construction in Sanday, and improved fire-fighting vehicles and equipment have been provided at the six airfields.

Further improvements to runway surfaces and to other airport buildings form part of plans for infrastructure improvement.

Mr Archibald added: “We are interested in knowing from bidders what improvements to the service they might consider possible.

“We are asking those bidding to consider the service as it currently operates, along with potential options for enhancements. It must be stressed though that any improvements would require additional funding and the council would have to consider how this might be sourced.”

The contract is scheduled to run from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2021.