I can’t help but feel pessimistic for the future of Loganair. My gut feeling is that the Bonds will be waiting to see if they get a government bailout. If not, I can see them busting the entire company. They’re rich people, and want to stay rich. They did it with flyBMI. I don’t see why they’d put any more money in.
And like it’s been pointed to above, after this is over can Loganair afford to have it’s jets plodding around with single figure loads? I think that a trimming down of operations back to what it was pre-flyBMI merger (highland and island work), focussing on props and PSO routes would be a realistic best-case scenario. And that’s if they got money from the UK or Scottish governments. The jets were clearly going to get replaced by ATRs anyway, so all this could have done is accelerate the process.
I hope Loganair get a massive bailout, the entire operation is saved, and they can have a crack at the flyBe routes. And I genuinely feel for them, as without this virus the closure of flyBe would have been the making of Loganair. But I can’t see them
getting anywhere near enough to save the entire firm. As someone said above, a government bailout to save a few ancient props, flying single figure loads to Islands that 80% of the population haven’t heard of doesn’t sit too well.
Should Loganair disappear, I feel that Loganair management are trying to pomp up the whole “vital services” thing. People change and adapt very quickly. Look at how much as a country we’ve changed and adapted over the last few weeks. Queueing to get into a supermarket, staying at home. Many people working from home. Extreme life changes, accepted by all. So it would only be a matter of time until the residents of the Scottish Islands change their mindset, and accept that the ferry is the only option to get to and from the Mainland. And Loganair will just be a memory.