On the subject of island flights, it might be appropriate to mention a little known service between the Western and Northern Isles and Inverness. Highland Airways have operated a couple of Cessna F406 aircraft on the newspaper run to Stornoway, Kirkwall and Sumburgh, for a couple of years now. They fly to the northern isles seven days a week and Stornoway for six. The aircraft are small Turboprop aircraft, also known as Twin Caravan. It is not normally possible to carry pax out to the islands due to freight weight, although its always worth making the enquiry. However they do offer a limited passenger service on the empty leg back to Inverness. It doesn't suit everybody, sometimes sharing the aircraft with boxes of live prawns for example! But it is cheaper than the BA franchises and gets back to Inverness early. There are regular passengers who no longer use the scheduled services and feel they get a better deal all round on the paper plane.
It is a topical subject at the moment as Highland Airways have just launched a new service, they are now operating a Jetstream 31 on the Western Isles (Stornoway)run. This has increased the capacity to three or four pax on the loaded leg (Inv-SYY) and a whopping eighteen on the way back. The inaugeral flight was on Tuesday with the press and local dignitries and the service is now underway. The price is now £55.00 single and £110 return. Some may have low opinions of small airlines, however in the last twenty-four hours Highland have just passed a strict audit (and inspection flight on the J31) by Airtours for crew positioning. The inspector left with a good impression of the company and made positive comments about the airmanship displayed by the crews.
Again, it won't be for everybody, but surely any competition to the current prices is welcome and it will be interesting to see how they fair.
CRX.