Tavish: airline must ‘get a grip of their service’

SHETLAND MSP Tavish Scott has delivered his most withering assessment yet of air services to and from the Scottish mainland – dubbing it “expensive, unreliable and a poor passenger experience” that is continually letting islanders down.

Along with his Orkney counterpart Liam McArthur, Scott is meeting Scottish transport minister Derek Mackay at Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon. They are lobbying for flights in and out of the islands to be made “cheaper, more reliable and efficient”.

It comes in the wake of a strong campaign, with over 14,000 followers on Facebook, calling on Loganair and Flybe to address astronomical flight prices. Campaigners – led by Scott Preston – have also highlighted the increasingly common experience of non weather-related delays due to “technical faults”.

Scott said he and McArthur had been “inundated with complaints over the current service in recent days”. They are pressing the SNP government to invest more in the Air Discount Scheme (ADS) and put pressure on Flybe and airports over cost, reliability and service.

“Overnight I have had more complaints about the Flybe service,” Scott said. “People say it is expensive, unreliable and a poor passenger experience. This is made worse by the security shambles at Edinburgh Airport. I agree.

“I know that Flybe has lost engineers to other airlines. So the planes going technical has become the norm. This weekend was pretty standard. Delays, missed connections, appointments and other arrangements, and passengers being bumped from overbooked flights.

“Flybe have to accept their service is failing the needs of islanders. Management also put intolerable pressure on their local staff in the islands, who face the ire of passengers annoyed by the continual disruption. This is not fair on hardworking staff.

“Many people now call Flybe ‘Flymaybe’. This cannot go on. The airline must get a grip of their service.”

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He said the Scottish Government had wrongly cut ADS so that some islanders are no longer eligible, principally business travellers, and repeated his call for that to be reversed.

Scott said the SNP could also cut landing charges at airports in public hands, such as Sumburgh and Kirkwall.

“The status quo is unacceptable,” he added. “We need improvements and the islands need them now.”

Preston is due to meet Loganair in Shetland on Thursday, after which the company – which posted a £6 million profit last year – says it will respond publicly to the concerns raised by the campaign.