Loganair is to further reduce its network in the coming weeks.
The Scottish regional carrier said it expects to ground around half of its 44 aircraft fleet and is likely to furlough most of its staff under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
A skeleton schedule of essential air services will operate within Scotland, to and from the Isle of Man and on two routes supporting critical workers in the offshore industry at Aberdeen.
Services will be maintained to a limited timetable on the following routes with a minimum of six weekly flights (daily except Saturday) planned. These are:
Aberdeen-Kirkwall
Aberdeen-Manchester
Aberdeen-Norwich
Aberdeen-Sumburgh
Glasgow-Barra
Glasgow-Benbecula
Glasgow-Campbeltown
Glasgow-Islay
Glasgow-Stornoway
Glasgow-Tiree
Isle of Man-Liverpool
Isle of Man-Manchester
Kirkwall-Sumburgh
Orkney inter-isles air services
Stornoway-Benbecula
All other Loganair routes and services will be suspended from March 30 until at least April 20.
Services are planned to resume on selected routes from April 20 and on others from May 31.
Customers booked on routes which have been suspended or cancelled will be entitled to a refund of their ticket. Customers who wish to defer their travel plans or are unable to travel will be able to change their bookings without any change fees.
Loganair’s call centre is operating with reduced capacity due to social distancing requirements so customers are being asked to manage bookings through the Loganair website or email bookings@loganair.co.uk.
Chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said: “The challenges that we’re all facing in everyday life are evolving by the day, and we are having to work through a whole host of disparate issues to maintain services for those with a critical need to travel, or indeed the many island communities totally reliant on Loganair to deliver their daily essentials.
“I’m proud of the work that so many of our team are doing right now to keep vital air routes open, without which our communities would be in severe difficulty. The tremendous team spirit in evidence throughout Loganair is providing all of us with confidence to tackle the challenges that undoubtedly lay ahead.”
“Throughout all of this, safety will remain our absolute priority – whether that of our staff or our customers, or indeed the daily focus to assure that each and every Loganair flight is conducted safely.”