Transport / ‘Not acceptable’ – Loganair to meet with Menzies after Edinburgh complaint
LOGANAIR will meet with handling agents Menzies after a high-profile incident which led to complaints from travellers in October.
Passengers were left stranded at Edinburgh airport after their flight was unable to land at either Kirkwall or Sumburgh due to high winds.
The airline apologised to passengers after they complained about what was described as “unprofessional and rude” behaviour from Menzies staff at the airport.
One customer said they had to organise their own onward travel and accommodation in Aberdeen after being left in Edinburgh with “no clear information, no food, and no support”.
Loganair chief operating officer Natalie Bush said the response was “not deemed appropriate”.
She added there had been “more disruptive events since which were managed in a much more proactive way”.
West Mainland councillor Liz Peterson said the incident was “just not acceptable”.
“People in Shetland are worried what happens if they have to return to Edinburgh and are left with Menzies staff on the ground,” she said.
Peterson asked Bush “how can you reassure us this type of thing won’t be happening again”.
The Loganair executive said they had no option but to work with handling agents in larger airports such as Edinburgh and Glasgow.
But she added the airline also had “disruption specialists” available 24 hours to deal with incidents like the one in question.
Bush said she was “not going to say we’re always going to get it perfectly right”, adding that there were often “fast moving situations” where lots of people returned to one airport at the same time.
“Sometimes it takes longer to get hotels,” she told Tuesday’s external transport forum.
“We’ll be meeting with Menzies in the next week or so.”
A spokesperson for Loganair said in October they were working with Menzies to understand what went wrong on the evening in question, and to ensure that it will not happen again.
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