Loganair, Scotland's Airline, is pleased to announce that its schedule of flights to and from Shetland for Summer 2011 will go on sale today, Friday 1 October. Services up to and including 20 August will be bookable, with flights after that date being made available in early December.
The Flybe franchise carrier is introducing a number of enhancements to its schedule, which will offer 130 flights each week on six routes to and from Shetland. Key developments include:
· The introduction of the first non-stop services to Inverness, which will operate every Sunday during the Summer 2011 season. A non-stop Sunday evening service is being introduced, leaving Inverness at 17:50 and leaving Sumburgh at 19:25;
· Dedicated Sunday evening services between Sumburgh and Kirkwall, offering later flight times in each direction (leaving Sumburgh at 17:15 and leaving Kirkwall at 18:20) and increasing the number of seats available on this route;
· The popular lunchtime extra services to Edinburgh will start in time for Easter – earlier than this year – and will now operate on five days per week (up from four in 2010);
· Improved flight times on Sunday Glasgow-Sumburgh services, with a later departure time which will enable passengers to enjoy a longer weekend in Glasgow;
· A significantly increased schedule to meet expected demand over the weekend of the Tall Ships Race's visit to Shetland. 32 extra services will be operated over a period of four days, offering 1,000 extra seats on routes to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bergen to help meet demand for crew changeovers and additional visitors to Shetland;
· Maintaining Shetland's only direct international link to Bergen, which will again receive two weekly flights (on Wednesdays and Saturdays) from May to August.
In addition to convenient connections to Flybe services, Loganair has also renewed its code-share agreement with British Airways, thereby safeguarding the seamless connections available from Sumburgh via Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen to London and onwards using the British Airways worldwide network.
Jonathan Hinkles, Loganair's Commercial Director, said: “We're delighted to be launching our Summer 2011 schedule. It contains a number of important developments for Shetland including extra Sunday services to Inverness and Kirkwall, an extended season for our additional Edinburgh flights and a massive increase in services to meet demand for the Tall Ships Race. These developments follow a successful summer in Shetland which has bucked the trend by reporting consistent growth in passenger numbers.”
“We're particularly confident that our enhanced Sunday services to Kirkwall and Inverness will be successful, and very much hope that the improved flight times and introduction of dedicated flights with extra seats will prove popular for sporting and special interest groups, passengers spending a weekend away and business travellers who need to be at their destination in time for an early start on Monday morning.”
The airline has also introduced early booking incentives for group travel during Summer 2011 including free places for group leaders on all services and a discount offer for groups between Shetland and Orkney.
Passengers are encouraged to book early to benefit from the lowest fares. Flights on all routes are available for booking via www.flybe.com from 1 October and, for British Airways codeshare services, via www.ba.com.