I frequently fly with Highland on the Stornoway - Benbecula route and the service is not very good. I have on occasions been sitting around the airport expecting the be called and the staff have the binoculars out looking for the plane that has not even left were it was coming from yet. A simple phone call to a. let the staff know and b. let the pax know would only be common courtesy.
The fares are a joke too. Stornoway - Benbecula £120 economy return (if you are lucky) for being on 15 minutes and they normally have decent loads and that is it with government subsidy apparently. When I fly Benbecula - Inverness I normaly change onto Loganair (Flybe) in Stornoway as its much cheaper and the cabin is clean, tidy, your hand luggage doesn't get confiscated from you!
Also I was on when an elderly woman was travelling for a hospital visit who was unsteady on her feet and they refused to use ambulift, which I believe the lady's doctor requested. The lady fell over the deathtrap of a step and was hurt badly. Not an infrequent occurance from what I hear.
Even without subsidy I think Flybe (Loganair) would make a better go of the route. It would allow interlining services to Inverness and Edinburgh and also be more useful to Barra pax. It would also have cheaper connection to Aberdeen/Sumburgh.
What happened to the extra rotation of GLA -BEB throughout June and September, only JUly and August showing on flybe.com now.
Is there any reason why they would not be allowed to fly the route if the others get subsidy?