Article taken from "Scilly Today".........
Skybus is axing the Bristol and Southampton flights next year so they can concentrate on services from Newquay, Land’s End and Exeter.
The company has announced how it intends to deal with the extra air passengers they’ll carry when BIH ceases operations on November 1st and direct flights to Tresco end.
In a presentation at Land’s End airport yesterday that marked 75 years of commercial flights to Scilly, company bosses said they are looking to get a new plane and will recruit additional pilots and crew in order to operate three flights a day from Exeter, four from Newquay and two from Land’s End on the Twin Otter aircraft.
They can seat up to 19 people.
The company will also run up to 17 flights a day from Land’s End on the smaller Islander aircraft which can accommodate up to eight people. That could be increased to 24 each day if there is demand.
Fares, they say, will remain at this year’s rate. Last year the company followed the pricing pattern of many major airlines and varied the ticket prices according to time and availability. Next year, a single fare to Land’s End will cost be between £70 and £80 and one-way from Newquay will cost between £85 and £95 on average.
The single Exeter fare will cost between £120 and £130.
The company say they are investigating the potential for 7-day sailing of the Scillonian in the summertime. Concerns have been voiced over the cost of transporting dogs to Scilly by air. Dogs will be free on the boat.
The Steamship Company recently won the Royal Mail contract. BIH, who had been carrying the post, declined to pitch for the contract.
The company say they will be launching a same-day small parcel delivery service.