News / Loganair joins easyJet connections scheme
LOGANAIR has partnered with easyJet as part of the budget airline’s new Worldwide scheme offering travellers global connections.
Managing director Jonathan Hinkles said he hoped it would strengthen Loganair’s sales efforts in areas such as Manchester and London.
“Worldwide by easyJet” is a global connections service, with Loganair joining Canadian airline WestJet and Norwegian as founder members. It comes less than a fortnight after Loganair’s acrimonious split from former franchise partner Flybe, which has resulted in it flying solo for the first time in 25 years.
Concern has been expressed about the difficulties islanders will have arranging onward travel, with Loganair and Flybe having failed to reach an agreement on through tickets.
Flybe passengers can, of course, benefit from connections onto its own network, while Loganair has a new agreement in place with British Airways for onward travel.
A “digital, virtual hub” will enable customers of the airlines involved to “seamlessly connect with partner airline flights”, while easyJet will also sell standalone tickets on behalf of its partners.
Hinkles: “We’re excited to be featuring in this new initiative as one of the launch participants. We expect it to lend strength to Loganair’s sales efforts in markets such as Manchester and London Stansted where easyJet has a strong presence but our brand may not be well recognised.
“The introduction of such a well-known name in travel also selling standalone tickets for travel on the Loganair network vastly improves our distribution capability by promoting the Loganair name and network to a worldwide audience.”
easyJet chief commercial officer Peter Duffy said Loganair’s network was “complementary” to his airline’s and “will allow our passengers to easily book onward flights e.g. from Glasgow and Edinburgh with Loganair to Scotland’s Highlands and Islands”.
It plans to sign other airlines up, with talks already “far advanced” with Middle East and Far East carriers.
Meanwhile, with both airlines continuing a PR offensive, Flybe has launched its previously announced search for “community heroes” who will be given special recognition including having an aircraft named after them. Nominations can be made on Flybe’s website until a deadline of midnight on Wednesday 4 October.
Teething problems with Flybe’s service resurfaced on Monday with a series of lengthy delays and some flight cancellations. One Glasgow flight was delayed by in excess of five hours as the airline struggles to get to grips with operating in and out of Shetland with a single regular aircraft.
Passengers on a Loganair flight from Edinburgh also endured a lengthy delay after a technical fault with one of its aircraft, while the plane’s return flight to the capital city on Tuesday morning was cancelled as spare parts had to be flown to Shetland. Both airlines apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers.
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