Northern Isles MSPs call for air services working group

Orkney and Shetland MSPs Liam McArthur and Tavish Scott have called for the creation of a working group to look at the long-term provision of lifeline air services to and from the islands.

The proposal coincides with a meeting tomorrow, Thursday, involving MSPs from across the Highlands and Islands and the Scottish Government transport minister to consider ongoing concerns about reliability on Loganair air routes serving the region.

It follows an earlier assurance to Mr McArthur from the First Minister that she would make a personal intervention with Loganair on the issue of reliability.

In a letter to the transport minister, Mr Scott and Mr McArthur have called for a short-life working group to investigate the future replacement of Loganair’s Saab aircraft fleet and consider what the consequences of this might be for costs, infrastructure and the way the routes are served.