Sumburgh flights reach the web…at last

AIR travellers flying in and out of Shetland’s Sumburgh airport can now find out the latest information about arrival and departures on the internet.

Airport operator Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) have finally updated their website – www.hial.co.uk – to include live information from Sumburgh.

The development has proved useful for passengers and their friends and families experiencing cancelled and delayed flights over the past few days

Other northern airports like Inverness, Stornoway and Kirkwall have had the service for some time as part of their new terminal facilities, but Shetland had to wait until last Friday before going live.

Airport manager Nigel Flaws said: “We are very pleased that we are able to offer a service to our customers which has been long awaited. Hopefully it will assist people, especially with these times of disruption.”

Flights in and out of Sumburgh and the rest of Scotland were returning to normal on Monday as the volcanic ash cloud pouring out of Iceland hovered over the north Atlantic. Flights on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning had to be cancelled.

Loganair said that even though they hoped to maintain a full schedule on Monday, they were experiencing severe delays on some routes, primarily from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Kirkwall, Sumburgh and Wick, as a result of air traffic control restrictions.

Commercial director Jonathan Hinkles explained: ”Other airlines’ transatlantic flights from the UK and Europe are being re-routed across northerly UK airspace to avoid the No Fly Zone over the Atlantic, and to safely manage this increased traffic burden, allotted take-off times for Loganair services are being imposed by the air traffic control authorities which are considerably later than the flights’ scheduled times of departure.

“We are doing everything we can to minimise delays on these flights, and the situation is changing frequently. Passengers should continue checking the website for further information before setting out for the airport, but should also check-in on time for their flights so that we can prepare the aircraft fully for departure in case we secure an earlier take-off time for each service.”