Transport / Tourism chief calls for daytime ferry sailings as Loganair fares labelled ‘ridiculous’
DAYTIME sailings between Shetland and Orkney would “take some of the pressure off” the NorthLink ferry service, the chair of Shetland Tourism Association has claimed.
Views are being sought on the possibility of daytime sailings being built into the current Lerwick-Kirkwall-Aberdeen route as part of a survey by Transport Scotland into the current service.
The government agency has also suggested having smaller cabins on NorthLink ferries to increase overall capacity.
Lerwick community councillor Amanada Hawick said that a lot of people “would be delighted” to have the option of daytime sailings in future.
And Hawick, who is chairwoman of Shetland Tourism Association, said a member of NorthLink staff had told her it was “doable” to implement daytime sailings into the schedule.
“It can work,” she told Monday night’s meeting of Lerwick Community Council.
“It’s well worth exploring for alleviating the pressure.”
She was critical of Transport Scotland, saying its staff “come up for a jolly” to Shetland and leave the same day or the next day.
Hawick said Transport Scotland staff “should come up here for a few months” to get a real understanding of the transport issues in the isles.
And meeting chairman Jim Anderson said he felt they should “book their own transport and organise it themselves” next time they come up to see how difficult and costly it could be.
“We’re not asking for the Crown jewels,” Hawick said. “We’re asking for fairness.”
Loganair was not exempt from criticism either.
Hawick told the meeting she had been charged £130 by the airline for a last-minute flight home from Orkney to Shetland.
She said that was because only the airline’s most expensive “fly flex plus” ticket was available at late notice.
But Hawick said when she boarded the plane there were 15 empty seats.
She pointed out that some of the benefits of the highest ticket, including fast-track security, were redundant in Orkney.
“It was £130 for a 30 minute flight, and you couldn’t even get a cup of coffee because the flight wasn’t long enough.”
Hawick added she thought it was “quite disrespectful” to sell those highest-fare tickets on the Orkney-Shetland flights when they knew some of the benefits were not available.
Anderson agreed, saying he had to pay £300 for a single fare from Aberdeen to Shetland at last-minute after being stranded in the Granite City.
“It’s just ridiculous,” he added.
The Transport Scotland survey on community needs assessment for the Northern Isles ferry service is available here.
It closes on 9 January 2026.
NorthLink, Transport Scotland and Loganair will all have representatives on hand to answer questions at today’s (Tuesday) Shetland external transport forum at 2pm.
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