People travelling home for Christmas have been urged to check their flights as Storm Barbara continues to batter the region.
The Met Office yesterday issued a weather warning as forecasters predicted winds of up to 90mph at the height of the storm on Friday.
A yellow warning for wind is in place today and tomorrow, which will increase to an amber alert for Friday and Christmas Eve across much of the Highlands and parts of Grampian.
Ferry and airline operators warned of disruption to services.
A spokesman for Loganair said: “Several hundred customers have taken advantage of Loganair’s offer earlier this week to rearrange their travel plans for Friday and Saturday.
“We expect to run a normal schedule on Wednesday and Thursday but are re-timing 27 flights on Friday to operate earlier, ahead of forecast weather deteriorations, and cancelling 10 other services where forecasts indicate no reasonable prospect of being able to operate.
“Safety always remains our primary consideration in making any such decisions. We’d urge our customers to check the Loganair website for the latest travel information and will continue to accommodate customers wishing to change their travel plans on earlier flights where available.”
He said the airline is expecting to operate a normal schedule tomorrow with a larger aircraft being used on its Glasgow to Stornoway, Glasgow to Benbecula and Aberdeen to Kirkwall flights to assist customers in re-arranging travel plans.
It is also operating an extra Kirkwall-Aberdeen flight at 8pm tomorrow.
But due to severe weather conditions forecast for Friday, particularly in the afternoon and evening, the airline is making some significant changes to its flight schedules to avoid extensive disruption for customers.
Here are the affected flights on Friday in full:
- BE6778 Aberdeen-Sumburgh: Will now depart Aberdeen at 1.10pm (1h45 earlier)
- BE6779 Sumburgh-Aberdeen: Will now depart Sumburgh 2:45pm (1h45 earlier)
- BE6780 Aberdeen-Sumburgh: Flight cancelled. Customers will be reaccommodated on the earlier BE6778 flight at 1:10pm.
- BE6781 Sumburgh-Aberdeen: Flight cancelled. Customers will be reaccommodated on the earlier BE6779 flight at 2:45pm.
- BE6809 Glasgow-Benbecula: Will now depart Glasgow 11:40am (3 hours earlier)
- BE6810 Benbecula-Glasgow: Will now depart Benbecula 1:10pm (3 hours earlier)
- BE6826 Glasgow-Stornoway: Will now depart Glasgow 11:55am (2 hours earlier)
- BE6827 Stornoway-Glasgow: Will now depart Stornoway 1:30pm (2 hours earlier)
- BE6828 Glasgow-Stornoway: Will now depart Glasgow 2:10pm (3h35 earlier)
- BE6829 Stornoway-Glasgow: Will now depart Stornoway 3:45pm (3h35 earlier)
- BE6831 Kirkwall-Aberdeen: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked onto BE6833 Kirkwall-Aberdeen or alternative services from Kirkwall as required for onward connections
- BE6836 Aberdeen-Kirkwall: Will now depart Aberdeen 12:45pm (3h10 earlier)
- BE6837 Kirkwall-Aberdeen: Will now depart Kirkwall 2:05pm (3h10 earlier)
- BE6838 Aberdeen-Kirkwall: Will now depart Aberdeen 3:25pm (3h10 earlier)
- BE6847 Glasgow-Campbeltown: Will now depart Glasgow at 2:25pm (2h earlier)
- BE6848 Campbeltown-Glasgow: Will now depart Campbeltown at 3:30pm (2h earlier)
- BE6857 Glasgow-Tiree: Will now depart Glasgow at 2:35pm (2h earlier)
- BE6858 Tiree-Glasgow: Will now depart Tiree at 3:55pm (2h earlier)
- BE6894 Kirkwall-Edinburgh: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked to travel on BE6898 departing Kirkwall at 2:45pm.
- BE6897 Edinburgh-Kirkwall: Will now depart Edinburgh at 1pm (1h15 earlier)
- BE6898 Kirkwall-Edinburgh: Will now depart Kirkwall at 2:45pm (1h15 earlier)
- BE6899 Edinburgh-Kirkwall: Will now depart Edinburgh at 4:30pm (1h20 earlier)
- BE6917 Glasgow-Sumburgh: Will now depart Glasgow 11:10am (2 hours earlier)
- BE6918 Sumburgh-Glasgow: Will now depart Sumburgh 5:15pm (2h35 earlier)
- BE6919 Glasgow-Sumburgh: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked to travel on BE6917 departing Glasgow at 11:10am.
- BE6920 Sumburgh-Glasgow: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked to travel on BE6916 departing Sumburgh at 11:50am
- BE6927 Glasgow-Islay: Will now depart Glasgow 3pm (2 hours earlier)
- BE6928 Islay-Glasgow: Will now depart Islay 4:15pm (2 hours earlier)
- BE6934 Sumburgh-Inverness: Will now depart Sumburgh 1:15 pm (2h30 earlier)
- BE6939 Inverness-Kirkwall, Kirkwall-Sumburgh: Will now depart Inverness 2:50pm (2h30 earlier) and Kirkwall4pm (2h30 earlier)
- BE6947 Edinburgh-Stornoway: Will now depart Edinburgh 2:10pm, arriving 3:20pm (2h45 earlier)
- BE6948 Stornoway-Edinburgh: Will now depart Stornoway 3:50pm, arriving 5pm (2h45 earlier)
- BE6957 Inverness-Stornoway: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked to travel on BE6955 departing Inverness at 2pm.
- BE6958 Stornoway-Inverness: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked to travel on BE6956 departing Stornoway at 5pm.
- BE6997 Edinburgh-Sumburgh: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked to travel on BE6995 departing Edinburgh at 1:45pm.
- BE6998 Sumburgh-Edinburgh: Flight cancelled. Customers will be rebooked to travel on BE6996 departing Sumburgh at 3:50pm or alternative flights as required for onward connections.
- LM359 Kirkwall-North Ronaldsay, North Ronaldsay-Kirkwall: Will now depart Kirkwall 2pm (3h15 earlier) and will now depart North Ronaldsay 2:23pm (3h15 earlier).
On Saturday, Loganair is expecting to run its published schedule.
A spokesman added: “Weather conditions are currently indicating that this should be feasible. However, it is essential to check the status of flights before leaving for the airport and making reasonable contingency plans wherever possible to do so in case your flight is unable to operate.”
How to change bookings:
If passengers hold a reservation on a Flybe flight operated by Loganair on 23 or 24 December within Scotland, its possible to transfer bookings to any Loganair flight on the same route departing any time from today.
The change will be free of charge – Loganair will waive any change fee payable and won’t charge the usual difference in fare between your original flight and the earlier flight on which you’d like to travel.
If there is a seat available on an earlier flight, passengers can transfer bookings from 23 or 24 December to that available flight without any charge on a first-come, first-served basis.
To change a Flybe flight with Loganair on 23 or 24 December for which passengers hold a reservation to travel on the same route on an earlier flight, check seat availability on potential alternative services at www.flybe.com and call 0344 800 2855 with a booking reference so Loganair can confirm bookings on the preferred alternative flight.
For passengers with codeshare bookings with British Airways, it’s possible to amend the entire itinerary from 23 or 24 December to an earlier Loganair and BA flight.
As connecting itineraries are booked with British Airways, please call 0344 493 0787 (Option 1).
Loganair’s first priority is to complete its passenger journeys safely, and as close to scheduled travel time as conditions will possibly allow.