Holyrood hears of ‘painful’ and ‘undignified’ Orkney flight experiences

The accessibility of our county’s lifeline air services will be broached by the Scottish Government in discussions with Orkney Islands Council (OIC).

This was a commitment made during transport questions at Holyrood on Thursday, where Orkney MSP Liam McArthur shared the “painful” and “undignified” experiences of some island residents using internal flights.

Mr McArthur recently joined a roundtable meeting to discuss the accessibility of the Islander aircraft which provides air services on these routes. Also present at the meeting were representatives from North Ronaldsay Community Council, OIC, NHS Orkney, Loganair, and others.

Following the meeting, Mr McArthur spoke in the chamber about the issues that islanders with mobility issues have had in making use of their lifeline air service. He asked the Government to commit to engaging with OIC on this issue as the process of re-tendering the contract for these services is taken forward.

Minister for agriculture and connnectivity, Jim Fairlie, said that Transport Scotland’s Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland had recently written to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar about a similar matter in the Western Isles. He promised to discuss it with Orkney’s local authority.

He also encouraged Mr McArthur to make representations to HITRANS, the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership, about the matter.

More in next week’s newspaper.