News / Performance data heading in the right direction but more improvements possible – Loganair boss
Loganair app to become key feature in customer communications
LOGANAIR’s most recent reliability and punctuality data for flights in and out of Shetland are heading in the right direction, according to chief executive Jonathan Hinkles.
While this may contradict the impression one can get when reading passengers’ tales of cancellations and delays shared on social media, Hinkles said that last month out of a total of 433 Shetland flights five were cancelled.
Of these five, three could not be operated due to weather, while the remaining two cancellations were due to Loganair issues, either a technical fault or a crewing issue.
The airline boss was speaking to Shetland News after Loganair, which is now the largest regional carrier in the UK, posted pre-tax profits of £5 million last week.
Earlier this year the company had to apologise not once but twice to islanders for a service “that was simply not good enough”.
Hinkles said Loganair’s performance in September was its strongest since June 2021. Of those 428 flights that operated, 86 per cent arrived at their destination within 30 minutes of schedule, while 72 per cent operated within 15 minutes of schedule.
He conceded that during the current month (October) the airline had again seen more issues with staffing and, with winter approaching, weather conditions are starting to have an impact on operations.
Sunday night’s service to Aberdeen, for example, was cancelled because of poor visibility at the city’s airport.
Hinkles said the company would soon be adding several new features to its app in order to improve communication based on mobile phone technology such as push notifications and a live function so that people can follow their plane’s journey.
Refreshment vouchers for people waiting for delayed flights will also soon be issued via a QR code to people’s phones.
Hinkles said he was well aware that people have been complaining about the lack of information when flights are delayed or cancelled, but said that often Loganair itself was struggling to obtain the correct information from airports or ground handling services.
“We can’t share information that we don’t have,” he said, adding the aviation industry has been going through a very difficult recovery period following the Covid pandemic with significant staffing issues.
Loganair employs 35 members of staff at Sumburgh who are working on scheduled air services, the oil and gas industry contract as well as the daily mail delivery.
“It’s all viable (…) and it works because of the economies of scale that we have been able to bring to it,” the chief executive said.
“If each of them would be standing on its own it would be difficult to make them economically work on that scale.
“There is a strong relationship between the different aspects of flying that enables something to work which otherwise probably wouldn’t.”
Meanwhile passenger numbers continue to recover having reached a load factor of 64 per cent again, up from 47 per cent last year.
“Yes, we do have some full flights, and those flights make money, but at the same time those full flights have to be there because they cross subsidise the service on a Tuesday in February when only a handful of people are flying,” Hinkles said.
He said the airline was encouraged by passenger numbers on the new Sumburgh – Dundee – London City link and confirmed that the service would continue. Likewise, the Sumburgh to Bergen service would be returning next summer, he said.
“The service is developing, and if things weren’t viable, we wouldn’t be doing this.
“I think you can take confidence from the fact the Loganair commitment towards the islands it serves remains key part of what we do.”
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