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.

Watchdog moves to reassure northern isles passengers

Loganair
Loganair

The Civil Aviation Authority has move to reassure people in the northern isles that they had no safety concern with Loganair’s lifeline service.

In a highly unusual move, the chief executive of the CAA, Andrew Haines, was in Shetland on Thursday to meet with Loganair management and local politicians to explain the role of the independent aviation watchdog.

The meeting, chaired by northern isles MP Alistair Carmichael, had been arranged after a Loganair flight with 49 people on board triggered a full emergency, when it landed on just one engine, just before Christmas.

Public confidence with the airline is at an all time low following a string of technical faults resulting in frequent and lengthy delays.

Earlier this month, Loganair provided a furious response in the isles when it announced a 25 percent increase in profits for 2014/15 and increased air fares by 1.3 percent a week later.

Following the 90-minute meeting in Lerwick, Haines said the CAA had decided to come to Shetland to acknowledge the concern of islanders.

“We want to reassure people that we believe Loganair is a safe airline. We would act very emphatically and stop them flying if we believed they weren’t.

“The circumstances in Shetland are quite unique; there is this small community that is heavily depended on the one provider, there is no competition, and it is for critical services”, he said.

In a first media interview since Loganair hit the national headlines in spring last year, the company’s chairman David Harrison said it was in the commercial interest of Loganair to improve its service.

“We already have announced our plans to bring more trained engineers into the business, increase our investments in spare parts.

“These are the things we are doing but it will take a little bit of time for come into effect, but over the coming months, I believe, we will see the benefits in terms of improving reliability and the punctuality of the service.”

He added: “We have been working in the highlands and islands for many years and fully understand the vital importance of providing good air services.

“We are acutely aware of the inconvenience caused when things go wrong, and it is absolutely in out interest, in in the passengers’ interest, that we get the service as good as it can be, and that is our top priority.”