Revealed: Loganair’s two-tier fare strategy

In a survey of flights across the Loganair network on randomly selected dates, the norm was that the best available fares are on average 90 per cent higher on island services, despite high passenger loads.

Most islanders are shielded from these very high fares for leisure journies through the Air Discount Scheme, which does not apply to business or visitor travel.

It is possible to obtain reasonably priced fares by booking well in advance using ADS. However, even ADS fares at shorter notice now frequently exceed £350 for a return journey to the mainland.

Anyone trying to book a return ADS flight between Glasgow and Stornoway for any day next week would pay more than £300 though Benbecula returns were available at £252.60.

Non-ADS fares are prohibitive for many who need to travel on business or for personal reasons, particularly at short notice, often running into the £5-600 range range for one hour return flights.

The huge discrepancy between island fares and those on non-island Loganair routes within the UK has fuelled claims that the islands are cross-subsidising the rest of the airline’s network. This is supported by other information provided to the Gazette.

One source accused the company of “price-gouging” on island routes and said the Scottish Government should be looking for a break-down of revenue and costs on a route-by-route basis. “In effect”, the source said, “the Air Discount Scheme is getting close to subsidising Loganair more than it is subsidising islanders”.

Loganair have been asked to comment on the Gazette’s findings and have offered a full briefing from their management but did not provide an immediate response.

In one case study, we looked at four return journies on Highlands and Islands routes and four non-Highlands and Islands routes, each with a duration of around one hour, for the same dates at the end of next week to find the cheapest (non-discounted) return fare available on Loganair services.

In ascending orders these were: East Midland-Jersey £197.98 return; Exeter-Manchester £201.98; Glasgow-Derry £238.98; Newcastle-Southampton £271.81; Aberdeen-Kirkwall £414.98; Glasgow-Stornoway £418.98; Glasgow-Benbecula £426.98; Aberdeen-Sumburgh £442.98.

Over the eight flights, the average “best available” return fare for non-ADS passengers on island routes for the same dates was 90 per cent higher than on non-island routes.

While exact comparisons between routes are notoriously difficult, this pattern was repeated through other dates randomly selected over the next few weeks, with available unsubsidised fares on island routes up to twice as expensive as on comparable non-island routes.

One particularly egregious example involves the plane which flies between Aberdeen and Sumburgh. The lowest single non-ADS fare on the route over the next week is £187 and on three days, the single fare is £260.

Between Sumburgh flights, which take one hour and five minutes, the same plane with the same crewing fits in a service to Dublin, which takes one hour and 40 minutes. On most days, the single fare for the Dublin route is either £75 or £85 while only on Friday it rises to £210, still well below the Sumburgh norm.

Until now, there has been little interest shown at Holyrood in the issue of Loganair fares, despite the rising costs directly impacting the Scottish Government through the cost of the Air Discount Scheme and also the budgets of island health boards.

In 2024-25, the ADS cost just over £13 million which is not a huge amount in terms of the Scottish Government budget while the impact of high fares falls disproportionately on the islands which are reliant on air services.

When the ADS was introduced by the Labour-LibDem administration in 2006, it covered business and NHS travel for islanders as well as leisure journey. Five years later, however, it was restricted to leisure journies.

Last year, an effort by then Shetland MSP, Beatrice Wishart, to have it restored to business travel was turned down by the connectivity minister, Jim Fairlie, as “unaffordable at this time”.

In February of this year, Mr Fairlie announced a one year extension of the scheme stating: “Through this scheme we are directly tackling the issue of high air fares in these areas, while ensuring eligible travellers remain connected with family and education opportunities.”

However, it has become increasingly clear that the extent to which the ADS protects islanders from high air fares depends on the “normal” fares set by the airline – and it is these which appear to have got out of hand.

Earlier this year, HITRANS published a major report on how Norway, Greece and Scotland support air services to peripheral areas. It found that the Scottish system is “piecemeal” as opposed to “a deliberate policy tool for territorial cohesion and social equity”.

MSP for Na h-Eileanan Siar, Donald Mackinnon, said: “Throughout the election campaign people repeatedly brought up the price of Loganair flights. It is increasingly clear that even with the Air Discount Scheme, air travel is beyond the reach of most islanders. That is an indictment on what is supposed to be a lifeline service.

He said there appeared to be “no accountability or ability to control prices despite the considerable public subsidy Loganair receive through the ADS. It is beyond time that Scottish Government took a strategic approach to air travel in the Highlands and Islands”.

Mr Mackinnon referred to the issue in his maiden speech at Holyrood when he described fares as “eye-watering”. He intends to meet with Loganair soon and is “keen to work cross party with other Highlands and Islands MSPs to identify solutions.”

Councillor Uisdean Robertson, chair of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s transportation committee and also of HITRANS, said the council is due to meet Loganair soon when some “pretty tough questions” will be asked.

He described some of the fares as “quite extraordinary” while other issues include delays in payment of compensation to passengers whose flights have been seriously delayed or cancelled.