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Scottish airline From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Loganair is a Scottish regional airline headquartered at Glasgow Airport in Paisley, Scotland. The airline primarily operates domestic flights within the United Kingdom. It is the largest regional airline in the United Kingdom by passenger numbers and fleet size.[4]
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Founded | 1 February 1962[2] | ||||||
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AOC # | 2105 | ||||||
Operating bases | |||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Clan Loganair | ||||||
Fleet size | 35 | ||||||
Destinations | 42 | ||||||
Parent company | Airline Investments Limited (AIL) | ||||||
Headquarters | Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland | ||||||
Revenue | £161 Million (2021) | ||||||
Profit | £4.98 Million (2021) | ||||||
Employees | 836[3] | ||||||
Website | www |
In addition to its main base at Glasgow, it has hubs at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness and Newcastle upon Tyne airports.[5] It holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.[6]
Loganair was established on 1 February 1962 by Willie Logan of the Logan Construction Company Ltd, operating as its air charter arm[7] with a Piper PA-23 Aztec based at Edinburgh.[8]
In 1967, Loganair took delivery of three Britten-Norman Islander twin-engine eight-seat light commuter airliners and began regular flights between the Orkney Islands,[9] and started operating in Shetland in 1970.[8] In 1966, after Renfrew Airport closed, the airline established its head office at Glasgow Airport.[10][11] This aspect of Loganair's operations ceased on 31 March 2006 when the new contract for air ambulance work was awarded to Gama Aviation.
Between 1968 and 1983, the company was owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland,[8] Towards the end of this period, Loganair bought Short 360 and Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft.[8] The company brought jet aircraft into the fleet with two British Aerospace 146s. In December 1983 it became a subsidiary of the Airlines of Britain Group. Further aircraft were added to the fleet: British Aerospace Jetstream 31, British Aerospace Jetstream 41, and British Aerospace ATP aircraft. In the late 1980s Loganair was the fastest-growing scheduled operator at Manchester Airport, and, in terms of number of flights, was the airport's second-busiest carrier.[12]
After a restructure of British Midland Group in early 1994, Loganair's routes outside Scotland and the aircraft used to operate them were transferred to Manx Airlines.[13] In mid 1994, the airline became a franchisee of British Airways, operating the remaining Shorts 360 and BN-2 Islanders in the British Airways livery. This would stand until July 2008, when it became the new franchisee of Flybe.[14][15]
In 1996 Airlines of Britain announced it would split its regional airlines into a separate grouping which would enable it to increase its franchise links with British Airways while British Midland looked to increase ties with Lufthansa. The new airline was renamed the British Regional Airlines Group (BRAL), with the British Airways franchise operations of Manx Airlines and Loganair operating under the British Regional Airlines banner.[16]
In 1997 a management buy-out occurred with Loganair becoming independent of BRAL and operating just six aircraft (one de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and five Britten Norman Islanders) with 44 staff.[17][8]
In June 2005, Loganair was awarded a contract from the Irish Government to operate a daily return service from Knock, County Mayo to Dublin. This public service obligation (PSO) route operated for a period of three years as British Airways, with effect from 22 July 2005. The operation ceased in July 2008, the contract having been lost to Aer Arann. The airline also bought routes from Citiexpress in March 2004.[7]
Until October 2008, Loganair was a British Airways franchisee, operating flights sold through BA using BA flight codes. Loganair's inter-island operations between the Orkney and Shetland Islands carried out using Britten-Norman Islanders were removed from the franchise agreement in 2004. The flights have since been marketed under Loganair's own name, rather than British Airways'. Loganair became a franchise airline of Flybe, operating in the Flybe colours.[18][19] Flights are also operated under a codeshare agreement with British Airways connecting flights from Scotland to London. The franchise has been criticised by residents in the Scottish islands for what they perceive to be excessively high fares,[20][21] and a Facebook campaign set up in June 2015 to highlight the issue attracted over 7400 "likes" over the course of its first weekend.[22]
On 8 July 2011, it was announced that Loganair had agreed to purchase Cambridge based ScotAirways. ScotAirways continued to trade as a separate entity (using its original name of Suckling Airways) and holding its own licences and approvals until April 2013.[23][24]
Services to Belfast and to Birmingham from Dundee ended on 2 December 2012.[25] After CityJet had terminated its services between Dundee and London City Airport in January 2014, Loganair took over the route, operating from Dundee to London Stansted Airport, with the support of a PSO agreement.[26]
In May 2015, two Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter aircraft were acquired by Highlands and Islands Airports to be operated by Loganair on the Scottish Government's Public Service Obligation routes between Glasgow and Campbeltown, Tiree and Barra.[27] In August 2015 the airline became part of a new regional airline group, Airline Investments Limited (AIL),[28] along with East Midlands-based airline bmi regional.[29]
On 21 November 2016, Flybe and Loganair announced that their franchise agreement would terminate on 31 August 2017. Despite headlines, it is unclear who initiated the termination.[30] Loganair later relaunched its website without renewed interline agreements with Flybe or Aer Lingus.[31]
In April 2017, pending the termination of the Flybe franchise agreement, Loganair unveiled its new independent corporate livery on Saab 340B Freighter G-LGNN. From 1 September the airline began operating "in its own right" for the first time in 24 years.[32] Loganair signed a codeshare agreement with British Airways (BA), effective from 1 September 2017 (coinciding with the launch of independent operations), allowing passengers to book through flights onto BA's global network.[33][34]
In February 2019, following Flybmi's cessation of operations, Loganair announced that it was to take over Flybmi's routes from Aberdeen to Bristol, Oslo and Esbjerg, from Newcastle to Stavanger and Brussels,[35] and from City of Derry Airport to London-Stansted.[36] A BALPA tribunal into Loganair's swift action following the closure of Flybmi found that the carrier had been acting lawfully, despite the fact that it had created several contingency plans for the demise of UK airlines Eastern Airways and Flybe.[37]
In March 2020, following Flybe's cessation of operations, Loganair announced that it was to take over several Flybe routes from Scotland and Newcastle.[38]
In October 2022, Loganair confirmed that the existing sole owners, brothers Stephen (age 72) and Peter Bond (age 61), were seeking a buyer to act as the company's "custodian for the next generation".[39] The sale process was suspended in October 2023, with the Bond brothers retaining their stake while a fleet renewal programme is completed.[40]
As of September 2019[update], Loganair serves 44 destinations in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Republic of Ireland and continental Europe.[41] Part of Loganair's operations includes the world's shortest scheduled commercial route, between Westray Airport and Papa Westray Airport, a distance of 1.7 miles,[42] and the use of Barra Airport, the only airport in the world to use a beach as a runway. After the collapse of the original Flybe in March 2020, Loganair took over a number of former Flybe routes from Scotland, the North of England and other parts of the UK, with service beginning as little as 10 days later.[43]
In March 2023, Loganair secured a lease from British Airways for 30 additional slot pairs at Heathrow, previously leased to the relaunched Flybe before its demise in January 2023, and called on the UK government to reform competition remedies in order to ensure that Heathrow slots remain permanently available for UK regional connectivity.[44]
Loganair has codeshare agreements with the following airlines (as of April 2022):
Loganair has interline agreements with the following airlines (as of November 2023):
As of July 2024[update], Loganair operates the following aircraft:[62][63]
Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ATR 42-500 | 4 | — | 48 | ||
ATR 42-600 | 2 | — | 48 | ||
ATR 72-600 | 8 | — | 72 | ||
Britten-Norman Islander | 2 | — | 8 | ||
de Havilland Canada Dash 6-310 Twin Otter | 1 | — | 19 | ||
de Havilland Canada Dash 6-400 Twin Otter | 2 | — | 19 | Operated for the Scottish Government. | |
Embraer ERJ-145 | 12 | — | 49 | ||
Cargo fleet | |||||
ATR 72-500F | 4 | — | Cargo | ||
Total | 35 | — |
In June 2018, Loganair announced plans to add two additional Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft for summer 2019. The aircraft were to be transferred from sister company Flybmi, and would initially operate flights from Loganair's Glasgow base to Derry and Stornoway. Loganair also planned to use the Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft to launch new routes to European airports not previously served from Glasgow.[64] In November 2018, the company announced that approximately twenty ATR 42 aircraft would be added to replace the Saab 2000 and Saab 340 aircraft in the third quarter of 2019.[65]
In April 2019, its Dornier 328 fleet was withdrawn and stored.[66] Loganair returned the last of its Saab 2000 aircraft to the lessor on 25 March 2020.[67]
Its Saab 340s were retired in January 2024, to be replaced by 8 new ATRs which will complement the existing ATR fleet.[68][69] In January 2024, Loganair announced plans to introduce a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander on its Orkney island-hopping routes by 2027. The aircraft could be either a new build or a conversion of one of the airline's existing Islanders.[70]
Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Notes | Refs |
---|---|---|---|---|
Piper Aztec | 1962 | 1972 | [10][71][72] | |
Beechcraft Model 18 | 1968 | 1975 | One aircraft (G-ASUG) preserved at National Museum of Flight | [10][73] |
Short SC.7 Skyvan | 1969 | 1974 | [10] | |
Britten-Norman Trislander | 1973 | 1983 | Replaced by de Havilland Canada Twin Otter | [10][74] |
Short 330 | 1979 | 1984 | Replaced by Short 360 | [10] |
Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante | 1980 | Unknown | [10] | |
Fokker F27 Friendship | 1983 | 1988 | [10][75] | |
Short 360 | 1983 | 2004 | Replaced by Saab 340 | [10] |
British Aerospace 146 | 1988 | 1992 | [76] | |
BAe Jetstream 31 | 1991 | Unknown | [10] | |
British Aerospace ATP | 1991 | 2005 | [76] | |
BAe Jetstream 41 | 1993 | 1994 | [76] | |
Dornier 328 | 2013 | 2019 | Acquired from purchase of Suckling Airways | [77] |
Embraer ERJ135 | 2019 | 2022 | Replaced by ATR 42/72 | [10] |
Saab 2000 | 2014 | 2020 | Replaced by ATR 42/72 | [76] |
Saab 340 | 1999 | 21 January 2024 | Replaced by ATR 42/72 | [10] |
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