Highland were advertising for type rated crews to be based at INV and EDI recently so this may provide a clue as to where the aircraft will be based.

Ex

<quote>according to latest EBAN they have two J41s on order. Basil quoted as saying "a 12 month contract is lined up to provide a corporate shuttle from Scotland to the South west". Starting early summer. Eastern are bringing on more SAABs to replace the 41s<quote>

G-LOVB (and other JS31s) have been flying Glasgow-Filton-Plymouth and back for some months now.........

Are Highland looking at more scheduled routes beyond what they currently do, eg. INVCWL for example (given their interests at both)?

And are they wise to, given the current economic climate? Guess however there is always an opening for someone, somewhere - good on them.

J41
 

J41 destined for GLA-EDI-FZO-PLH

Does anyone think that Highland might operate Newquay - East Midlands?

Would be a perfect operator for the route

If this is the case, probably originate in EDI as crews are based there.

Ex

My Q at #10 not directly linked to this, but rumour that Highland may be looking at the ex-City Star routes, or some of them.

Dunno how substantiated this is, may be a case of "my friend was hearing that his friend's brother's cousin said..." :rolleyes:
:}

Edi-gla-fzo-plh
 

Highland have been operating this route for some time now with a J31 so the J41 would be a capacity increase, not a new route.

I note at Jethros that Highland have acquired three additional Jetstream 31/32s from Norway/Sweden, bringing the fleet to 9 examples. Those plus four Jetstream 41s makes a pretty impressive fleet of 13 Jetstreams. How do they keep them busy - the schedules only require two Jetstreams, and the corporate shuttle another two, if I am not mistaken?

EDIT: As we are just at it - when did they drop the direct INV-BEB flights? I took one of those about two years ago very soon after their inaugural and they seemed to be reasonably patronized back then.

They do a few oil charters, although I've not heard them in Aberdeen of late - they were around earlier in the year. Likes of Stavanger, Bergen, Ireland.

another route
 

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | Airline secures Finnish contract

will they get more 31s for this route/ use the ones they have parked up for long periods

there a some very good reasons highland wont setup a lunchtime run out of plymouth using the 41.
first, the crew are on a split due to working a max duty day already, so there is no-one to fly the wee beasty.
second, the charter client have stated that they want the aircraft to be available whenever, and wont be too happy seeing the aircraft disappearing off downroute everyday. this charter is a nice little earner for highland and they don't want to rock the boat after what was a shaky start.
finally, highland don't like to do schedule flying. when they do, it's only PSO routes and there aint many of those out of plymouth.

fraid your stuck with AirSouthwest.


as for the finnish contract, rumour has it that there will be two jetstreams based there to reduce any downtime due to potential tech problems. however, trying to crew this route will stretch an already strained roster. :{

I'm probably one of the few on here who has actually flown into Lappeenranta, near the Finnish border with Russia (even looked at renting a PA28 from the local aero club for a jolly but that's another matter). A few years ago it was on the Golden Air network in Finland, with about 6 SF340s to Helsinki a day, then they gave it up and there was nothing for a while.

Fly Lappeenranta (a sort of local Chamber of Commerce-type initiative) started up and chartered an SF340 themselves for just 4 a day, but don't seem to have had much success, probably because they don't have the interline arrangements with Finnair that Golden Air had. So they are downsizing again, to a Jetstream.

Typical loads a few years ago on the Saabs were about a dozen passengers, in fact never more, and I guess have gone down since, which would fit the Jetstream nicely. Hope the crews manage to enjoy Lappeenranta hotac - have to say it's no Las Vegas !

I believe G-GCPW will be going to Lappenranta. G-FARA has already gone.:ok:

With CCPW and FARA leaving for Finland to fly for Lappenranta, that leaves just 4 Jetstream 31's.

2 based Warton for BAE (EIGG/UIST)
1 ops PSO Cardiff-Valley (BTXG)
1 ops PSO Stornoway-Benbecula (JURA?)

What will then operate the mail contract they have that operates between Kirkwall, Sumburgh and Inverness on a morning? (HWY4A/B/C)
Is G-NOSS ready to be put in to service yet?

Cheers,
Sam

That contract is for newspapers and it was G-PW this morning:ok:

R@B

What will happen when CCPW leaves for Finland? Is it due to go when Highland bring the next in to service (G-NOSS)?
Also, what's to happen to the other Jetstream 41 G-TEXA?

all highland a/c are currently being followed when taxing/taking off and landing at inv by an airport car from the fire section or the ops dept to check for fod after some incedents including tools found on runway and bits of metal falling off

the airport have now stoped following them

Highland Airways
 

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 Loganair (Flybe) 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.