Loganair 'makes progress' on reliability

Loganair, which largely flies under Flybe livery, said it had invested "heavily" in its engineering division

Loganair has claimed to have made "significant progress" on the reliability of its services after admitting it fell short last year of what customers "should rightly expect".

The airline faced calls for improvement from pilots' union Balpa and MSPs in late 2015 after its services were hit by a series of technical issues.

At the time it blamed the loss of skilled aviation engineers.

The firm said it had since invested "heavily" in its engineering division.

The comments were made in the company's accounts for the year to 31 March, which showed that pre-tax profits nearly halved, to £3.6m.

Loganair, whose routes include lifeline links between islands and islands with the Scottish mainland, was hit by a series of incidents in 2015.

They included a flight from Glasgow to Sumburgh being diverted to Aberdeen due to a technical problem.

In another incident, a flight from Stornoway to Glasgow was cancelled after damage was found on a propeller during a pre-flight inspection.

'Significant challenge'

In its annual report released on Friday, the company said: "The airline faced a significant challenge during the year with reliability of services falling due to technical issues with aircraft, a primary reason for this being an unforeseen loss of skilled aviation engineers and the time taken for replacements to become licensed and experienced on Loganair's fleet."

The company added that its network had shown a "marked improvement" in punctuality and reliability in recent months, following the arrival of new managing director Jonathan Hinkles.

The former chief operating officer of Loganair returned in June after four years with Virgin Atlantic.

Jonathan Hinkles said the airline's annual results reflected "the turbulence experienced by Loganair's customers as a result of operational issues"

Mr Hinkles said: "Our results for 2015-16 reflect the turbulence experienced by Loganair's customers as a result of operational issues.

"We're pleased to say that we have made very significant progress since then to achieve the levels of punctuality and reliability that our customers are entitled to."

He added: "In the third quarter of 2016, our punctuality has improved from 79% a year ago to 86% this year and the number of flights cancelled or significantly delayed has fallen by two-thirds.

"These figures are a testament to the improvements and investments that have been made since that time and underline our commitment to ensure that Loganair earns the right to be called Scotland's Airline."

'Improving reliability'

Chairman David Harrison said: "Reliability of our services fell below what our customers should rightly expect, but we have invested heavily in our engineering resource, and now have a full complement of appropriately trained staff in place.

"We're now starting to see growth once again in customer numbers on many of our routes as a result of the improving reliability."

Concerns about the reliability of Loganair services were expressed in the Scottish Parliament in November 2015.

Transport Scotland Derek Mackay agreed then that reliability was an issue, but added that safety was not a concern.

A month earlier, Loganair said it was working to improve its engineering department and access to spare parts.