For Uist residents, Loganair’s sudden news that flight frequency would be halved two months early was a disappointment. But it wasn’t a surprise.
Loganair originally planned this ‘winter timetable’ for the end of October. There was no public announcement, leaving islanders such as teacher Fiona Campbell to try and decipher the new flight times for themselves.
Fiona, whose three children live on the mainland, compared the situation to a “pincer”.
Facing issues with both flights and ferries, islanders are left caught between a rock and hard place.
And while switching to a single flight in the middle of the day may seem like a small thing, it can have a big impact.
‘It just seemed to come out of nowhere’
“I was going to run the half marathon in Glasgow in September with my daughter,” Fiona says.
Under the usual timetable, she would be able to go for the weekend without flying during working hours. But now, the Friday and Monday flights are in the middle of the day.
“I’ve had to cancel my place because I can’t take two days off work for something like a half marathon,” she says.
Fiona, who took to Facebook to look for answers to the unexpected changes, says many others have similar stories.
“It just seemed to come out of nowhere – there wasn’t a warning on their website,” she says.
‘Death by a thousand cuts’
Each plan that has to be changed or long-awaited trip that has to be cancelled is leading to “a death by a thousand cuts” for the community, she says.
“All the lifeblood is being sucked out of the people who live here. You’re culturally connected to the islands but you’re getting to the stage where you’re thinking, ‘I actually can’t do this anymore’.”
The impact on young people is a particular concern.
Fiona says she sees students that have to take multiple days off school in order to attend one weekend event in Glasgow.
Young people are ‘missing out’
“They’re missing out, and they didn’t used to,” she says. “There was a time when it was better than this.”
Just a few years ago, Fiona says, early morning and late evening flights meant islanders could take day trips to the mainland.
This year, meanwhile, the reduced flights are about to coincide with the second Uig harbour closure.
“The cumulative effect of all these things makes you think, what are we doing here?” Fiona says.
Loganair staff ‘exceptionally good’
She doesn’t want her complaints to be seen as just “knocking” Loganair and CalMac.
“The staff with both of them are exceptionally good,” she says. “I think that’s one of the reasons people don’t complain, because they don’t want the staff to feel as if they’re getting at them.”
She wants to speak out in the hopes of finding solutions.
“How can you make it better? Could you speak to people?” She asks. “Could the council have a liaison officer that looks at travel, especially in the Southern Isles?”
When she thinks of the days of better public transport for Uist, she remembers, too, a better relationship between companies and the islanders they serve.
“It just seemed as if this was everyone pulling together to make life a little bit easier.”
Loganair says the change is to “provide greater certainty amid delays in the delivery of our new aircraft”.
“Affected customers will be able to amend their booking free of charge,” they added.
“We thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”
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