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Loganair is a Scottish airline based at Glasgow International Airport in Scotland. Its registered office is located by the airport in Paisley, Renfrewshire.[1] Loganair operates scheduled services under a Flybe franchise in mainland Scotland and to Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. In addition it operates a service to Belfast City - Northern Ireland and to Birmingham from its Dundee base. Its tag line is "Scotland's Airline". It also provides services for the Scottish Air Ambulance Service and night mail services on behalf of Royal Mail. In addition to its main base at Glasgow, the airline has hubs at Edinburgh Airport, Inverness Airport, Dundee Airport and Aberdeen Airport.[2] The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence. It is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.[3]
[edit] History
Loganair was established on 1 February 1962 as the air taxi service of the Logan Construction Company Ltd, operating a single Piper Aztec from Edinburgh to the city of Dundee. Almost immediately, it was apparent that there was a demand for scheduled services in addition to the primary role as an air taxi, and as such Loganair's fleet grew. As the network expanded to take in more remote islands and communities, Loganair's scheduled network began to emerge. In 1964 Loganair commenced an inter-island scheduled network in Orkney, and a similar network in Shetland began in 1970. The airline's strong association with these island communities continues today. Air ambulance services were established in 1967 covering Coll, Colonsay, Oronsay, Mull and Oban. Loganair continued to maintain its relationship with the Scottish Ambulance Service and continued to provide air ambulance cover with dedicated Britten-Norman Islander aircraft at Glasgow, Kirkwall and Lerwick. However, this aspect of operations ceased on 31 March 2006 when a new contract was awarded to Gama Aviation to provide the service using Beechcraft B200C King Air aircraft and Eurocopter EC-135 helicopters. Under the ownership of the Royal Bank of Scotland between 1968 and 1983, the Loganair network, serving the Highlands and Islands, was assuming its now familiar shape. The growth was spurred by the rationalisation program that British Airways commenced in 1975 with the transfer of "thin" routes to Loganair. Grasping the opportunity, Loganair's scheduled network grew, and Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles were served comprehensively from Glasgow and Edinburgh, and mainland routes were now firmly established. In 1979, Loganair launched an air service between Glasgow and Derry, with Northern Ireland becoming the focus of expansion, as the stage was now set for the next major step forward — a hub of business routes. Firmly established as Scotland's Airline, new horizons were sought, and in 1980 Loganair took over the Belfast to Edinburgh route from British Airways. In 1981, Loganair faced the might of the flag carrier and competed on the Glasgow to Belfast route, stealthily managing to win market share by transferring its operations to Belfast City Airport. Manchester then became the focus of attention, as Loganair commenced daily services to Edinburgh, Belfast City and Glasgow. With business traffic representing an ever-increasing proportion of Loganair's annual passenger carryings, Loganair acquired larger aircraft: the Shorts 360 and Fokker Friendship. In September 1983, the British Midland Group took a controlling interest in Loganair, and riding a wave of success and optimism the time came for Loganair to enter the jet market. The BAe 146-200 jet, known as the "Whisper Jet", was at the forefront of short-haul aircraft technology, providing a high level of passenger comfort and load-carrying capacity, and two jets were brought into the fleet to expand the growing network to include services to the Channel Islands and mainland Europe. In December 1983 it became a subsidiary of the Airlines of Britain Group. The fleet continued to grow with the acquisition of BAe Jetstream 31, Jetstream 41, and ATP aircraft, and in the late 1980s Loganair had a comprehensive schedule and charter network. Loganair became the second busiest airline at Manchester, the dominant carrier at Belfast City airport, and a significant player in the development of scheduled services at Southampton. With aircraft utilisation being such a vital factor, Loganair also secured contracts with the Post Office for the night movement of mail and datapost. However, the promising eighties gave way to the turbulent nineties, and a reorganisation of British Midland Group activities in 1994 saw the transfer of Loganair's cross-border services and associated aircraft to Manx Airlines (Europe). This consolidation of services led to the formation of a new airline, British Regional Airline (BRA Ltd). July 1994 also saw the significant forging of a relationship between Loganair and British Airways in Scotland, as Loganair became British Airways' second franchise operator, with the residual Scottish internal routes being flown in British Airways livery, but with the same professionalism that typifies the Loganair operation. Whilst still under the ownership of the British Midland Group, a further transfer of the main internal Scottish services took place in 1996.    The route network and operations that were left under the control of Loganair were subject to a management buy-out in 1997. With one De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and five Britten Norman Islanders, the company found strength in its origins and its pioneering spirit, and dedicated itself to the provision of air services in Orkney, Shetland and to the West coast of Scotland. In June 2005, Loganair was awarded a contract from the Irish Government to operate a daily return service from Knock to Dublin. The public service obligation route operated for a period of 3 years as British Airways, with effect from 22 July 2005. The operation ceased in July 2008, lost to Aer Arann. The airline continues to expand, and in November 2003 it announced its intention to purchase a tranche of routes from British Airways' Citiexpress subsidiary with effect from March 2004. The seven routes acquired from British Airways Citiexpress were Glasgow - Stornoway, Glasgow - Benbecula, Glasgow - Belfast, Glasgow - Isle of Man, Glasgow - Aberdeen, Aberdeen - Shetland and Edinburgh - Belfast. Loganair continued to operate BA's BAe ATPs on these services until 28 May 2005, when further Saab 340 aircraft were purchased to replace them. [edit] World's shortest scheduled flightLoganair operates the world's shortest scheduled flight, taking only 2 minutes to hop between Westray Airport and Papa Westray Airport. [edit] Beach landingServices to Barra are dependent on the tide, as the Twin Otter aircraft used on the service land on the beach. The Twin Otters have not been replaced by the company due their ability to land on the sand. [edit] Franchise operationBefore October 2008 Loganair held a British Airways franchise. Under this agreement, Loganair's services were operated under British Airways flight codes and flights were sold through British Airways and the airline participated in BA's Executive Club and BA Miles programme. Loganair was also an affiliate member of Oneworld. The franchise service was removed from Loganair's inter island operations carried out by their Islander fleet within the Orkney and Shetland Islands in 2004. Loganair now market these flights under their own brand name, and not the BA name. From 26 October 2008 Loganair is a Flybe franchise airline, operating in Flybe colours on all routes. [4] Flights are now sold on flybe.com. [edit] MaintenanceLoganair's maintenance is carried out at Glasgow International Airport and at Kirkwall. Much of the airline's Saab and Twin Otter maintenance is carried out at Loganair's Glasgow hangar. Usually, there will be 1 or 2 Saabs and 1 Twin Otter in the hangar. The Twin Otters require special attention after every day's flying to remove any salt accumulated during landings at Barra's beach airport. The airline's Britten-Norman Islander maintenance is carried out at Kirkwall. [edit] Incidents and accidents
[edit] DestinationsMain article: Loganair destinations [edit] Fleet The Loganair fleet includes the following aircraft (at March 2009):[8]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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