Carlisle Lake District Airport is once again a commercial airline passenger service airport.
The airport launched commercial and business services from Carlisle for the first time in more than 25 years with Loganair on Thursday, July 4.
Above Photo: Michael Kelly. SAAB 340B ES-NSD (msn 171) “Spirit of Carlisle” is pictured at Dublinย heading back to Carlisle. ย It is leased from Estonian operator NyxAir.
Flights now connect Carlisle and the Lake District, which attracts 45 million visitors per year, with the South East of England (London Southend Airport), Northern Ireland (Belfast City Airport) and the Republic of Ireland (Dublin Airport) from Thursday July 4 thanks to Carlisle Lake District Airportโs partnership with Loganair, Scotlandโs Airline.
Carlisle Lake District Airport is the gateway to the Lake District National Park, the Pennines, South West Scotland and Border regions, located just six miles east of Carlisle City and the M6 (J43 or J44).
From Southend, Loganair has also commenced flights to Aberdeen and Glasgow in Scotland generally using Embraer 145s and the occasional SAAB 2000 and Embraer 135s.
Top Copyright Photo: G-LGNA “Spirit of Lewis” is seen at Southend, a new destination of the carrier. Loganair SAAB 340B G-LGNA (msn 199) SEN (Keith Burton). Image: 946946.
Loganair has announced it will commence scheduled services from East Midlands Airport, introducing two new routes to Brussels and Inverness, this autumn.
Starting on September 2, 2019 the airline will begin an early morning and afternoon rotation to Brussels between Monday and Thursday as well as afternoon services on Friday and Sunday. It will also provide six flights per week between East Midlands and Inverness, in the North East of Scotland.
Operated by Embraer jet aircraft and with a flight-time of only 1 hour and ten minutes, the airlink will offer a convenient gateway to Belgiumโs capital city โ which is also a centre onward rail travel to a wide range of European cities. A popularย destination for business passengers, the timetable has been created to enable a full dayโs business on the continent, departing at 06:50 before returning to the UK via a well-timed 19:00 service.
Meanwhile the journey to Inverness takes one hour and 35 minutes, setting off at midday before returning to England at 14:00.
Previously operated by flybmi, services between Brussels and East Midlands ceased on February 16.
Loganair currently operates freight services from East Midlands Airport but this announcement marks the first time it has provided passengers flights from the region.
Loganair and Emirates have signed a major interline agreement which opens up the Dubai carrierโs global destination network to Loganairโs passengers.
The partnership enables customers from Scotlandโs Highlands and Islands to travel via Glasgow and Edinburgh with their luggage on one ticket to Emirates network of 155 destinations in more than 80 countries around the world.
Passengers have the added advantages of being protected should their connecting flights be disrupted while also saving on an APD charge of ยฃ78.
The agreement will see some of Scotlandโs smallest and most remote airports displayed on Emirateโs online booking system between many of the worldโs biggest cities.
It is the latest addition to Loganairโs โBetter Connectedโ programme, which provides the Scottish airlineโs key destinations with a wide range of easy to access international connections.
Carriers including Turkish Airlines, Air France, Dutch giants KLM, Emirates and Thomas Cook Airlines have already signed up to the โBetter Connectedโ initiative.
Loganair passengers can now travel with these airlines on a through-ticket where flights connect at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness, Manchester and Norwich.
Top Copyright Photo (all others by Loganair):ย Loganair SAAB 340B G-LGNJ (msn 173) GLA (Robbie Shaw). Image: 940890.
Carlisle Lake District Airport (CLDA) has unveiled Loganair, Scotlandโs Airline, as its airline partner with flights to George Best Belfast City Airport, Dublin Airport and London Southend Airport.
The six times weekly service to Belfast City Airport, which will commence on June 4, 2018, will connect passengers to Cumbria and the Lake District, which receive 45 million visitors per year.
The airline will be operating this route as a partner of the Stobart Group.
The first flight from Carlisle Lake District Airport will arrive in Belfast on June 4 with the following week seeing the launch of Flybeโs four times weekly service to Doncaster Sheffield Airport from Belfast City.
In other news,ย Loganair is launching a Glasgow to Derry air service after the recent Ryanair announcement to discontinue the route.
The regional carrier, which has a long history of operating between the two cities, will commence the link on Sunday, October 28 โ the day after Ryanairโs service ceases.
Operating five days per week, Loganair will utilise a 33-seat SAAB 340 aircraft on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a larger, 50-capacity SAAB 2000 aircraft used for Sunday evening services.
Services will depart Glasgow at 10.55 am on Mondays and Saturdays, arriving in Derry 50 minutes later at 11.45 am. The return trip from Derry will take to the skies at 12.15 pm.
The Thursday, Friday and Sunday services leave Glasgow at 6.55 pm, with return flights leaving Northern Irelandโs second largest city at 8.15 pm.
Loganair first served Derry in April 1979, becoming the first airline to operate to City of Derry Airport at the time.
Derry becomes Loganairโs 12th destination from Glasgow, the home base for Scotlandโs Airline.ย ย Loganair has added Guernsey and Donegal to its Glasgow network this year and will also resume nonstop flights in May from Glasgow to Bergen in Norway for a second summer season.
easyJet made this announcement on December 7, 2017:
easyJet has announced that Loganair flights are now on sale at easyJet.com as part of its โWorldwide by easyJetโ product, which launched in September.
โWorldwide by easyJetโ is the first global airline connections service by a European low fares airline, which also offers stand-alone flights from partner airlines with complementary networks.
Booking Loganair flights via the easyJet website will enable easyJet passengers to easily book onward flights โ e.g. from Glasgow and Edinburgh with Loganair to Scotlandโs Highlands and Islands, including the Glasgow โ Barra link, the worldโs only scheduled service to a beach airport.ย โWorldwide by easyJetโ provides partner airlines with access to one of the biggest travel websites in Europe.
The launch in September was a first step and easyJet will now continue to sign up and integrate other airlines with the โWorldwide by easyJetโ product.
Loganair notes the statement made earlier today by Flybe concerning the withdrawal of its services to Shetland from January 8, 2018.
Following an approach by Flybe this week, we have agreed to assist Flybe by honoring its forward bookings on routes between Shetland, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow after January 8, 2018.ย Flybe will contact its customers directly and it will coordinate the re-booking of those who wish to travel with Loganair onto our nearest equivalent flights.ย ย This will be coordinated by Flybe and as we have no access to Flybeโs systems, we regret that weโre unable to assist with any customer re-booking queries at this time.
Commenting on the withdrawal, Loganairโs Managing Director Jonathan Hinkles said:
โSince competition was first announced on these routes six months and one day ago, we have consistently maintained that there was only room in the market for one airline.ย ย The support from the Shetland community for Loganair has been simply tremendous, and the community has resoundingly chosen to support Scotlandโs Airline ahead of our competitor.ย ย Itโs now up to us to ensure that we re-double our efforts to reward this trust placed in Loganair by providing the best range of reliable and affordable air services that we possibly can.โ
โLoganair has amassed a wealth of experience in 50 years of serving Shetland ranges from our pilotsโ understanding of conditions at Sumburgh to offering assurance of free booking changes during times of weather disruption such as todayโs Storm Caroline.ย ย Weโre proud of our record of service and we will continue to draw on all of this experience โ and keep learning and listening โ to ensure our service meets the needs of the islands.โ
Loganair recognizes that there will inevitably be questions about its future service and fares to Shetland.ย ย The airline remains wholly committed to serving Shetland and is now working on plans to ensure that it can reasonably meet demand whilst at the same time ensuring that fares remain affordable.
That said, extra Loganair services cannot and will not replace the huge volume of air seats provided during this period of competition, which has driven fares down to unsustainable levels and caused heavy losses for both airlines.ย In Loganairโs case, the support from the travelling public in Shetland has been matched by support from its shareholder to sustain those financial losses.
Jonathan continues:
โTodayโs announcement by our rival isnโt about a victory for Loganair, itโs about a victory for common sense.ย ย All of us at Loganair work hard to deliver excellent service every day for our customers, and weโll continue that work to assure the Shetland community that Loganair isnโt just Scotlandโs Airline, itโs also Shetlandโs Airline.ย We look forward to sharing our future plans as soon as we can.โ
British Airways (London) has issued this statement:
British Airways has announced a new codeshare agreement with Scottish airline Loganair.
The new agreement, which comes into effect on Septemberย 1, 2017 when Loganair begins operating again as an independent airline, will enable customers from the Highlands and Islands to book directly onto services on British Airwaysโ global network at Londonโs Heathrow, Gatwick and City Airports, serving more than 200 destinations..
Loganair customers will be able to connect onto British Airways domestic services at Inverness, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, flying on a โthrough ticketโ, with the facility to check in hold baggage at their departure airport straight through to their destination.
Loganair flights between the Highlands and Islands airports and Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness under the new codeshare agreement will be eligible under the Scottish Governments Air Discount Scheme.
The new Loganair services to and from Manchester will also be included in the codeshare parthership, enabling customers to take advantage of new connections from points including Glasgow, Inverness and Norwich onto the growing family of British Airways services at the north-west hub.
Under the new agreement, British Airways is operating a codeshare with Loganair for the first time as an independent airline, although the two companies have had a business relationship that has stretched over a quarter of a century.โฏโฏโฏ The airlines operated as franchise partners between 1994 and 2008 and have operated a code share agreement under the Loganair/Flybe franchise.
Scotlandโs Airline Loganair has announced that it will operate flights in its own right from ย September 1, 2017.
After 24 years of operating under franchise agreements with other airlines, the Glasgow-based company will once again market its services and fly under its own name โ introducing a new, definitively Scottish identity to the skies.
Loganair will provide over 1,000 flights each week across 46 routes, offering unrivalled connectivity for Scotland and with operations stretching as far afield as London, Norwich, Manchester, Dublin, and Bergen in Norway. It has almost 300 flights each week to and from Glasgow, and is the largest operator at key airports throughout the Highlands & Islands including Inverness, Sumburgh, Kirkwall and Stornoway.
The extensive Loganair network also includes the world-famous โtimes subject to tideโ operations to the beach airport at Barra and the worldโs shortest scheduled flight, linking the Orkney islands of Westray and Papa Westray with daily flights taking only two minutes.
Scotlandโs Airline has operated its services under franchise agreements with British Airways, from 1993 to 2007, and lately with Flybe from 2007. The current franchise arrangement with Flybe will conclude on August 31, 2017, although the two parties are continuing to discuss potential opportunities to work together in future.
Loganairโs long-standing and successful codeshare arrangement with British Airways will also continue, enabling customers to make a single booking for a journey from points throughout the Highlands and Islands to London and onwards to British Airwaysโ worldwide network.
Employing over 600 people, Loganair operates a fleet of 28 aircraft and alongside its scheduled services, undertakes an extensive range of contract services for Royal Mail and oil and gas companies. These will also carry the resurgent Loganair โ Scotlandโs Airline identity. After a number of recent successful contract awards, the airline is actively pursuing its ambitions to widen both its contract and scheduled service operations in future.
The transition will take place on September 1, 2017. Loganair will establish its own reservations system by March 2017 for flights on and after that date via its website at http://www.loganair.co.uk and will continue to take bookings via key travel agents and partner airlines in future.
Image: Loganair. Loganair will also introduce a new livery with the change.
Loganair (Flybe) (Glasgow) flight BE 6821 to Glasgow on January 2 did not operate as planned. According to this BBC report, the Flybe flight, operated with a SAAB 340B (G-LGNL, msn 246) with 25 passengers and three crew members, was caught in a crosswind as it was attempting to take off. The SAAB 340B, after lifting off the runway, veered left and came to rest off the runway. Two passengers were taken to the hospital and two others received minor injuries according to the report but declined medical assistance.
Loganair is a Flybe franchise and operates under the Flybe brand.
Stornoway is a town on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Stornoway is the largest town in the Western Isles and often receives stiff winds from the adjacent Atlantic Ocean.
The airline issued this short statement:
On departure from Stornoway Airport the 8.30 am flight BE 6821 for Glasgow left the runway during take off. The SAAB 340 aircraft was carrying 25 passengers and three crew members.
All passengers and crew were safely evacuated and returned to the airportโs terminal. Two passengers sustained minor injuries and have gone to the local hospital. A full investigation is now underway to ascertain the cause of the incident and the Air Accident Investigation Branch has been notified.
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Sister-ship SAAB 340B G-LGNF (msn 192) taxies at Glasgow with the special “Serving Scotland for 50 Years 1962-2012” logo.
Loganair (Flybe) (Glasgow) will operate a twice daily weekday service, and once on a Sunday, from Dundee to London (Stansted) starting March 30, replacing the CityJet service to London City which is due to be withdrawn at the end of March.
In the meantime, tenders will soon be issued to secure a Public Service Obligation that will ensure the long term future of air services between Dundee and London.
Flights will operate twice daily on weekdays, with flights leaving Dundee at 7.00 am and 4.25 pm. Return flights depart Stansted Airport at 9.00 am and 6.25 pm, allowing business passengers to complete a full dayโs work in London. There will also be a flight to and from London Stansted every Sunday afternoon, leaving Dundee at 4.25 pm and departing Stansted at 6.25 pm.
The new service, operated by a 32-seat Dornier 328 turboprop aircraft, is the result of weeks of negotiation between Dundee Airport operator HIAL, Dundee City Council, Transport Scotland and the airline.
Copyright Photo: Nik French/AirlinersGallery.com. Formerly operated by Suckling Airways, the Dornier 328-110 will be operated on the new route. G-BWWT (msn 3022) taxies at Manchester.
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