Loganair Limited is a Scottish airline with its registered office on the grounds of Glasgow International Airport and in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland.^[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] Loganair was founded in 1962 and despite the ownership of the company changing hands on several occasions it has always operated under the same name and callsign making it the United Kingdom's oldest operating airline.

On 8th July 2011, it was announced that Loganair had agreed to purchase Cambridge based ScotAirways. The airline will continue to trade as a separate entity (using its original name of Suckling Airways) and holding its own licences and approvals. ^[4]

History[link]

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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.^{[citation needed]} In 1966, after Renfrew Airport closed, the airline established its head office at Glasgow Airport.^[5] 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. 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. Whilst still under the ownership of the British Midland Group, a further transfer of the main internal Scottish services took place in 1996.

Britten-Norman Islander, Fair Isle

Loganair SAAB 340B, Glasgow International Airport, Scotland.

A Loganair Saab 340 in the new Flybe colour scheme after the franchise was taken up by them.

The route network and operations that were left under the control of Loganair, with aircraft including one De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and five Britten Norman Islanders,were subject to a management buy-out in 1997.

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.

World's shortest scheduled flight[link]

Loganair operates the world's shortest scheduled flight, Loganair Flight 353, taking only 2 minutes to hop between Westray Airport and Papa Westray Airport.

Beach landing[link]

Services to Barra are dependent on the tide, as the Twin Otter aircraft used on the route land on the beach. The Twin Otters continue to be used by the company due their ability to land and depart on this unique 'runway' environment.

Franchise operation[link]

Before 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.^[6] Flights are now sold on flybe.com.^{[citation needed]}

Maintenance[link]

Loganair'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.

Incidents and accidents[link]

• In 1986, a Twin Otter 300 aircraft struck high ground on the island of Islay in poor weather. The pilots had mistakenly identified the coastal village of Laphroaig as the town of Port Ellen, near Islay's Glenegedale Airport.^[7] There was one fatality. This was the UK's last major CFIT incident (See Loganair Flight 423) ^[8]

• In 1996, a Britten-Norman Islander G-BEDZ was destroyed in Shetland. The accident occurred during a night time recovery to the aircraft's home base following a medical evacuation flight. The aircraft crashed short of the runway whilst attempting to land after a previous discontinued approach in strong gusting cross winds. The pilot has exercised his discretion to extend the period for which he was allowed to fly that day. The pilot's medical had expired nineteen days earlier thus invalidating his pilots licence. The pilot was killed in the crash. The doctor was seriously injured. A nurse seated at the rear of the aircraft sustained minor physical injuries. ^[9]

• In 2000, in two separate incidents within a few weeks, the same Loganair aircraft lost power to alternate engines due to faulty components.^[10]

• On 27 February 2001, a Shorts 360 (G-BNMT) operating a Royal Mail flight to Belfast, crashed into the Firth of Forth shortly after taking off from Edinburgh at 1730GMT. Both crew members were killed, but there were no passengers on board. A fatal accident inquiry later blamed a build up of slush in the aircraft's engines for the crash. Protective covering had not been fitted to the engine intakes while the aircraft was parked for several hours in heavy snow at Edinburgh.

• 23 March 2001 the pilot of a Britten-Norman Islander aircraft was incapacitated in flight following his exposure to an improperly used hazardous chemical. The aircraft was landed safely when the single pilot on board recovered but he was left with long term health problems that required hospitalisation and left him disabled. Loganair did not submit an accident report to the AAIB as required, but did submit an account to the Civil Aviation Authority. Loganair acknowledged that their report "contains errors" and that a corrected report would be submitted. This was not done. The case features in the report of the Parliamentary Select Committee for Transport.^[11]

• On 15 March 2005 a Britten-Norman Islander (G-BOMG) aircraft crashed into the sea while descending toward Campbeltown Airport in western Scotland. The aircraft was operating on an air ambulance flight and was not on a scheduled journey. The one crew member and one passenger (a Paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance Service) both died in the crash.

• On 18th Dec 2010 a Britten-Norman Islander G-BPCA carried out a visual approach to land at Kirkwall Airport. During the final stages of the approach the pilot lost visual references as the aircraft was enveloped in a snow shower. Although he could not see the runway the pilot elected to continue the landing. The aircraft landed 20m away from the runway. ^[12]

Destinations[link]

Fleet[link]

Twin Otter landing on the beach at Barra Airport

The Loganair fleet includes the following aircraft (at November 2010):^[13]

References[link]

1. ^ "Statutory Information." Loganair. Retrieved on 20 May 2009. "Registered Office: St. Andrews Drive, Glasgow Airport PAISLEY Renfrewshire PA3 2TG"
2. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 106. 2007-04-03. 
3. ^ CAA Operating Licence
4. ^ http://www.loganair.co.uk/loganair/press-office/117/loganair-acquires-uk-charter-specialist-suckling-airways
5. ^ Hutchison, Iain. The Story of Loganair. Kea Publishing, 1987. 82. Retrieved from Google Books on 30 June 2010. ISBN 0-906437-14-8, ISBN 978-0-906437-14-8.
6. ^ "Flybe signs historic franchise deal with Loganair". Flybe Press Office. Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20080117104330/http://www.flybe.com/news/0801/14.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-14. 
7. ^ Aviation-Safety.net database entry
8. ^ CAA | Controlled Flight Into Terrain
9. ^ AAIB Bulletin: 11/96
10. ^ Charlie-Alpha
11. ^ Transport Select Committee written evidence, 2006
12. ^ AAIB Bulletin: 4/2011
13. ^ CAA Aircraft Database

• Iain Hutchison, 'The Story of Loganair' (1987) ISBN 978-0-906437-14-8 Western Isles Publishing
• Roy Calderwood, 'Times subject to Tides: the story of Barra Airport' (1999) ISBN 978951895832
• Iain Hutchison, 'Air Ambulance: sixty years of the Scottish Air Ambulance Service' (1996) ISBN 978-0-9518958-2-5
• Guy Warner, 'Orkney by Air' (2005) ISBN 978-0-9518958-7-0
• Captain Alan Whitfield, 'Island Pilot' (2007) ISBN 978-0-9518958-8-7

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Loganair

	Scotland portal
	Companies portal
	Aviation portal

• Official website
• Photos of Loganair aircraft
• Scotland Photo Database - Loganair

v t e Airlines of Scotland BMI Regional Loganair ScotAirways See also Defunct airlines of Scotland

v t e Airlines of the United Kingdom Atlantic Airlines Aurigny Air Services BA CityFlyer Blue Islands Bmibaby BMI Regional Bond Aviation Group Bristow Helicopters British Airways British International Helicopters British Midland International Coyne Airways DHL Air UK Eastern Airways EasyJet Flybe Global Supply Systems Isles of Scilly Skybus Jet2.com Loganair LyddAir Monarch Airlines RVL Aviation Suckling Airways Thomas Cook Airlines Thomson Airways Titan Airways Virgin Atlantic Airways See also Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom