Loganair confirms changes to Manchester flight schedule

THE ‘ONE plane’ flight between Sumburgh and Manchester – via Aberdeen – is being “de-linked” by Loganair to avoid knock-on effects to other services.

A spokesperson for the airline said this is taking place from early September onwards as a result of customer feedback.

Passengers in Shetland were previously able to fly to and from Manchester without needing to get off the plane as it stopped off in Aberdeen – getting the Air Discount Scheme rate for the entire journey.

However, once the route has been de-linked people would have to travel on a separate service to get to Manchester once they are on the mainland, from Aberdeen or Inverness.

The problem has been that on the one-plane service any delays stemming from Manchester can affect people in Aberdeen waiting on the plane for the trip north to Shetland.

“We try wherever possible to offer the same routes on a regular basis, but there will be occasions where we need to make changes – often for operational reasons,” the Loganair spokesperson said.

“From early September, we’ve de-linked the Manchester-Aberdeen and Aberdeen-Sumburgh services (and those running southbound as well) such that they will now be operated by separate aircraft and crews to avoid knock-on effects to the Aberdeen-Sumburgh service on the occasions when delays occur through Manchester.

“This in response to direct customer feedback about on-time performance of the evening Aberdeen-Sumburgh and Sumburgh-Aberdeen services.

“Customers still have travel options to connect from Sumburgh to Manchester via Aberdeen and Inverness on a daily basis.”