20 July 2026 , 10:30
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Loganair has made urgent calls for Scottish and UK governments to intervene after it was forced to cut flights due to financial concerns.
The regional airline has "temporarily reduced" flights from Inverness to the Western Isles, and from Inverness to Orkney and Shetland, after a challenging period sparked by escalating fuel prices due to the Iran war.
It added that the Inverness-Stornoway and Inverness-Kirkwall-Sumburgh routes had been losing money and said governments should "urgently" produce a strategy for routes that are not commercially viable. Flights between Inverness, Orkney and Shetland - which had been operating daily - are now only running on weekends, reports the BBC.
The airline’s morning flight between Inverness and Stornoway, which returns before midday, has also been scrapped.
Gordon Jamieson, chief executive of NHS Western Isles, said those living in island communities have had their ability to leave and return on the same day completely removed, and called the change a "significant deterioration".
He said 90% of patients travelling to Inverness for healthcare took the morning flight, which he described as "mission critical" for those receiving and delivering care.
The move is set to impact roughly 1,100 appointments over the next three-and-a-half months, Jamieson added. He said the health board would "work around" the change but warned of "significant additional costs".
NHS Western Isles said it would invest around £100,000 into patients’ travel. The health board added that it was looking into evening clinics and asking visiting clinicians to stay longer.
Loganair has pushed for funding from government-owned Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (Hial) so that flights can be reinstated. Transport Scotland has urged Hial and Loganair to "work collaboratively" on a solution.
The UK government says it is looking into improving air links across the country.
Simon McNamara, Loganair’s head of government and corporate affairs, said the airline had come into difficulties amid rising fuel costs."The conflict in the Middle East escalated fuel prices. That flowed through to an industry-wide softening of demand," he said.
McNamara said Norway offered a potential model. "They have a whole number of essential air service routes that need to be flown for communities," he said. "The government works alongside a private operator to support them in a structured way."
Loganair said Scotland is missing a long-term strategy to tackle the issue and that a "vast majority" of its network was unsupported.
McNamara said one solution could involve direct subsidy to "bridge a gap" or exemptions from some taxes and charges.
Head of Investigations