Flybe coming to Shetland

[JustMe]

Loganair cannot move to Scatsta because that airport is currently only for Oil flights.

 

Loganair did not so much take over British Airways flights from Sumburgh as step into the breach when British Airways decided to stop running their own flights within Scotland.

 

From memory flights from Unst to Aberdeen were run by Brymon airways and were oil flights like those to Scatsta.

 

However at one time Loganair ran a service from Unst to Edinburgh via Tingwall.

 

Passenger flights from Scatsta were always in theory oil flights but at one time people in the know could sometimes get a cheap flight to Aberdeen.

 

Business Air did at one time offer flights from Sumburgh to the mainland but at some time decided to drop the route.......I think they entered into an agreement with Loganair or British Airways. Do not remember 3 airlines flying the route at one time.

 

There is nothing to stop Flightline, Eastern Airways, Ryanair or any other airline deciding to operate a service from Shetland and, as long as the flights then landed at a Scottish airport, they could be part of the Air Discount Scheme.

[JustMe]

daveh wrote

Now that BA are out of the equation, why can you still book through them as well as the Flybe website? This is all very confusing.

 

I guess because British Airways want no part in operating routes in Scotland but still want to show all of Scotland as destinations served by BA while Loganair do not want to lose their links into a worldwide network which is something Flybe cannot provide.

[daveh]

Thanks again.

 

One last question.

Why did not the discount scheme apply to at least part of the now defunct Atlantic Airways route to Stansted? Surely the discount could have been allowed for a pro rata part of it as you were getting to/from the UK mainland. Did Loganair pressurise anybody not to allow it? It seems a shame as I think the route would have continued in the summer months if the discount was allowed.

[Rasmie]

The air discount scheme was introduced by the Scottish Parliament to assist Scottish Islanders get some equality in travelling to Scotlands cities. To get an air discount scheme to London, England you would have to persuade Boris Johnson or Gordon Brown to subsidise it. The English are already complaining about the perceived flow of money out of England into Scotland.

 

As the airlines are basically operating in the free market, they can pick and chose where they fly, or not. Up until now the airlines make enough money flying to Sumburgh not to need subsidisation. And even before the air discount scheme people were willing to pay market prices.

 

British Airways seem to have a policy of moving out of the regions and concentrating on international flights only.

 

The have opened the door for Flybe, Loganair and Eastern for example to run to the small regional airports.

 

Anyone can start an airline and run anywhere providing they can persuade their financial backers to do so.

 

thats the answer to most questions then - free market!

[JustMe]

Thanks again.

 

One last question.

Why did not the discount scheme apply to at least part of the now defunct Atlantic Airways route to Stansted? Surely the discount could have been allowed for a pro rata part of it as you were getting to/from the UK mainland. Did Loganair pressurise anybody not to allow it? It seems a shame as I think the route would have continued in the summer months if the discount was allowed.

 

The reason Atlantic Airways did not qualify for the Air Discount Scheme is because their flights went direct to Stansted. Had they stopped in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen they would have qualified for ADS discounts on that sector of the flight but of course they would also have qualified for BAA landing charges at their chosen Scottish airport.

[daveh]

For the purposes of bring tourism to/from the islands, the rules could have been amended to include a pro-rata discount for direct flights. One could have still wanted to fly to Stansted but, as now, you would have to go to a Scottish mainland destination en route which adds to the travelling times considerably. Someone, somewhere could have put pressure on the administrators of the scheme to allow the part discount, perhaps equivalent to what you currently get when going to the 4 mainland airports, but I would guess that there were representations from Loganair and or Flybe against it.

Having moved up here from Southern England, I know several people who were planning to use the Stansted route next summer but now cannot do so.

[Carlos]

Not sure what the current situation is with the ADS, but......

 

I did once have to look through all the various (BA) combinations and permutations for a Shetland-Edinburgh-London flight, and although a Shetland to Edinburgh flight on it's own was a fair bit cheaper with ADS, a Shetland-Edinburgh-London flight mysteriously worked out almost exactly the same whether ADS was used or not, not the same price, but less than £1 different.....

 

Assuming they would be claiming the ADS payment from the government and just pocketing the cash I booked without ADS, but is there another reason?

[Guest posiedon]

Given the fact that "Flybe" will have a monopoly on providing flights to the mainland, can anyone understand why they feel it necessary to take out a FULL page add in the Shetland Times every week? Couldn't the money saved on the (pointless) advertising be passed on to US?

Just out of interest, does anybody know the cost of a full colour, full page ad in the Shetland Times?

[MJ]

Do not remember 3 airlines flying the route at one time.

 

Just before I moved to the mainland I used to fly out once or twice a month. Loganair moved to sumburgh to wait for the upgrade of Scastsa as Tingwall couldn't accomadate the new planes. Buisness Air were still running their flights to Newcastle via Aberdeen and Edinburgh. And of course BA.

Used to love the fact I could fly to Edinburgh for £75 for the weekend, without paying the monday/friday surcharges (The BA office in Paris really couldn't believe I didn't want to fly on a monday into shetland, until they tried finding me a cheap ticket).

Then Buisness Air pulled out because their sister airline British Regoinal Airlines(?) started operating the BA flights on behalf of BA.

I understood that Loganair took over that role later, but the flights still belonged to BA, when did they solely become Loganair flights?

 

And what ever happened to that Shetland based airline folk used to talk about?

[Rasmie]

There is a Shetland based airline?

 

We the Shetland residents have a fleet (of two) aircraft at Tingwall.

They are operated on behalf of the SIC by Direct Flight. I am surprised they don't run it to Aberdeen with SIC staff or Councillors : surely that would save money

 

sorry thats nearly a joke.

[insouciant]

I was looking at Flybe's site and I see they've gone and changed the number of points you get for every flight (in order to obtain free flights and other benefits). I suppose they've got to claw back all that money they're losing on card transaction fees they've been forced to reduce.

 

[normal flights]

 

* 1 one-way Economy Flight = 1 Reward Point

* 1 one-way Flybe Economy Plus Flight = 2 Reward Points

* 1 return Economy Flight = 2 Reward Points

* 1 return Flybe Economy Plus Flight = 4 Reward Points

 

For Loganair franchise routes you will earn points as follows:

 

* 1 one-way Economy Flight = ½ Point

* 1 one-way Flybe Economy Plus Flight = 1 Reward Point

* 1 return Economy Flight = 1 Reward Point

* 1 return Flybe Economy Plus Flight = 2 Reward Points

[j3ova]

i thought shetland was meant to benefit from flybe taking over loganair??

ive been on to check for flights and if anything their more expensive....

does anyone know if the AirDiscount or shame kind of thing stands with them???

Even the boat isn't cheap.....what is this place coming to?! Do they just not want us to leave once we get here LOL

[Muppet]

yes, the Air discount scheme applied to Flybe. You need to be registered with the ADS and have a card and PIN number.

 

You can find it here

 

http://www.flybe.com/cam/adsInit.do

[trooter]

The prices are still far too high, it isn't doing anything for the local tourist trade as the cost of flying here without the ADS is higher than going abroad.

[JustMe]

The prices are still far too high, it isn't doing anything for the local tourist trade as the cost of flying here without the ADS is higher than going abroad.

 

And unless we get some big subsidy on all flights it always will be. Little planes quite often way short of being full will always keep prices high as will the sort of weather related delays we get reasonably frequently. Possible alternative of one or two flights a day with a larger aircraft could bring prices down a bit but with the loss of service. I can well imagine the outcry when our cheap flights meant it was not possible to get to Aberdeen and back in a day.