Coronavirus: Further major reduction of Loganair flights announced

Loganair aircraftLoganair

Scottish airline Loganair has announced a further major drop in the number of its flights due to the impact of the coronavirus.

Loganair had already cut services after a drop in bookings.

The airline said forward bookings were "continuing to fall dramatically" so was reducing its flying programme for April and May by more than half.

Routes impacted include some from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Kirkwall and Sumburgh.

Loganair's chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said bookings had fallen by about 75% from their usual levels.

He explained: "From the end of next week, we will be implementing an emergency timetable, which will reduce our operations from around 214 to 95 scheduled flights each weekday - a cut of 55%."

He said lifeline services to island communities would be maintained but with reduced frequency.

'Working to avoid redundancies'

Staff have been asked to consider a series of measures aimed at protecting employment levels - including reducing working hours by 20% and accepting a 20% reduction in salary as a result or taking a period of unpaid leave.

Mr Hinkles added: "We are working hard to avoid redundancies and lay-offs as have already been seen at major international airlines and as are likely to follow at several UK airlines in the coming days."

He added the recently-announced plan to recruit former Flybe team members would continue, but with a delay to start dates of employment.

Routes reduced include Aberdeen and Inverness to Birmingham and Manchester, as well as Edinburgh to East Midlands, Glasgow to Southampton and Dundee to London City.

It is expected that a quarter of Loganair's fleet of 40 aircraft will be put into temporary storage as a result of the schedule reductions.

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