A planned suspension to airline services to the islands leaves one Orkney woman facing an eight-hour ferry journey the day after a major cancer operation.
The woman’s plight was raised at Holyrood as the SNP came under pressure for a wider “crisis” in travel to and from the Highlands and Islands.
Government ministers heard they had failed islanders with delays to new ferries and around industrial action affecting flights in the north from later this month.
Orkney Islands MSP Liam McArthur was contacted by the family of a constituent whose mother booked a flight to Shetland for a mastectomy later this month.
He said: “Due to the suspension of air services between Orkney and Shetland, she now faces an eight-hour ferry journey, the day after her operation, or following almost a week away from home.”
In heated exchanges at Holyrood:
- Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth failed to confirm if Hull 802, one of the two ferries currently under construction and already five years late, will set sail in 2024.
- Ms Gilruth was accused of being slow to act on the airport pay dispute, which she strongly denied.
- Opposition MSP said “fragile island economies” were failed by a lack of new ferries.
- Communities have been betrayed over the promise to dual the A9 between Inverness and Perth.
- MSPs were told the impact on cancer patients was “unthinkable”.
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is in the middle of a fight with trade union members over pay, with walkouts and work-to-rule at airports.
Loganair decided that from March 17 it would suspend flights from Inverness to Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles for six weeks.
This has a knock on impact to services between Kirkwall and Sumburgh.
Ms Gilruth told MSPs she was “hopeful” of a resolution before that date, after meeting the chair and managing director of HIAL on Saturday.
The private limited company, which is wholly owned by Scottish ministers, has developed further proposals in a bid to head off a new wave of strikes.
The transport minister also faced pressure over the government’s long-term failure to build new ferries to serve the Western Isles.
It comes after CalMac boss Robbie Drummond warned it will be at least two more years until West Coast ferry services are improved.
She failed to confirm if Hull 802 – one of the two £340 million vessels currently under construction – would be delivered by early 2024.
Instead, the SNP minister said the government remains “absolutely committed to the completion of those vessels”.
The two ferries are already five years delayed and more than £150m over budget.
‘Need for urgent resolution’
Ms Gilruth said the proposals will be “considered shortly by ministers”, subject to agreement by the board of the public corporation.
She said: “Clearly there is a need for urgent resolution to this dispute. I’m particularly concerned, for example, about any implications to medical appointments.
“That is a matter I’ve asked Transport Scotland to raise directly with Loganair.”
The SNP minister continued: “This decision in relation to the cancellation of flights is not a decision that has been taken by government ministers and nor is it one that I have any input in as a government minister.”
Highland MSP Donald Cameron said travel to and from the Highlands and Islands is in “crisis due to this government’s failure to deliver adequate lifeline transport links”.
SNP MSP Alasdair Allan, who represents the Western Isles, said his constituents were “horrified at Loganair’s actions”.
He added: “The impact on patients – including cancer patients alone – is almost unthinkable.”
What is the problem with flights?
Loganair has come under fire since announcing the suspension last week, but chief executive Jonathan Hinkles has defended the move.
The airline said the impact of work-to-rule means that if a single member of the HIAL team has time off work for sickness or a family emergency, for example, their shift cannot be covered through overtime or shift swaps.
They said this leads to a position where shifts canot be manned to the required minimum levels to enable flights to take place.
What does Loganair say?
A spokesperson for Loganair said that with industrial action continuing there is an “unacceptably high likelihood of flight cancellations” on a small number of routes.
The airline said this means there flight disruption could happen with “little or no notice”, most often on the day of the flight itself.
The spokesperson added: “That clearly is a situation which serves no-one’s interests, particularly those travelling for medical appointments which would then be missed.
“It’s to avoid that very scenario that we’ve temporarily suspended services between HIAL airports, and we did so only after consideration of all possible alternatives.”
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