McArthur presses for improvements at Aberdeen Airport

Orkney’s MSP Liam McArthur has repeated his calls for improvements to be made at Aberdeen airport in the interests, particularly, of patients returning to the islands from hospital treatment or appointments.

Mr McArthur raised the issue during a meeting yesterday afternoon in parliament with Loganair’s chief executive, Jonathan Hinkles, following complaints by constituents of problems at Aberdeen airport earlier in the week when flights to Orkney were delayed due to adverse weather.

“I was extremely concerned to hear about the experience of passengers returning to Orkney from Aberdeen on Monday evening,” Mr McArthur said:

“The delays due to bad weather were unavoidable, but the lack of care that passengers received was certainly not.

“I welcome the commitment from Jonathan Hinkles and his team to look into this matter and establish what went wrong. However, the incident serves to reinforce why more must be done to meet the needs of passengers travelling back to the islands after hospital treatment.”

Mr McArthur added: “I still believe that space should be made available to allow those who need a bit more privacy or comfort to be accommodated in this part of the terminal.

“It is therefore also welcome that Mr Hinkles has agreed to look at this issue again in discussion with the operator of Aberdeen airport.

“I certainly look forward to progress being made.”