Discount Air Fares

[WC1]

From the BBC News website this afternoon:-

"Residents in the Highlands and Islands will soon be eligible for a 40% discount on air fares for trips to the main Scottish airports. Transport Minister Tavish Scott has announced the ground-breaking scheme, which will cost £11m a year.

"The offer is being made to passengers who live in the Northern and Western Isles as well as those in Islay, Jura and Caithness.

"The discounts will not apply to flights from Barra, Tiree, or Campbeltown."

Can anyone tell us why not?[/i]

[LO]

"
"The discounts will not apply to flights from Barra, Tiree, or Campbeltown."

Can anyone tell us why not?[/i]

"The discounts will not apply to flights from Barra, Tiree, or Campbeltown.

An executive spokeswoman said those areas were already covered by a different aid scheme designed to protect lifeline transport services which would not be commercially viable.

She added that under European rules individual routes could not get more than one aid scheme. "

That seems to be the explanation lame as it is.

Maybe if the fares were discounted, more people would use the Campbeltown service and we wouldn't need a PSO?

[WC1]

So far, so unclear, Les.

Would it be worth asking whether we'd be better off with our existing subsidy or with the 40% discount? It would be unfair if one part of the Highlands got a better deal than the rest. A bit like the good old postcode lottery, only applied to travel.

[paraffin man]

If you look at who uses the flight, the biggest percentage are NHS user going for day treatment or hospital appointments in Glasgow, which is why primarily we have the Public Service Obligation (PSO) on the route as a lifeline service. At this moment in time we are probably better off with the PSO option as this secures the schedule flight to/from Glasgow in the immediate future. The passenger figures are increasing but are not yet at a level that could sustain the flight on its own.

If the PSO was removed from the route we would probably find that any operator could not sustain an aircraft doing such a short sector as Glasgtow/Campbeltown/Glasgow. The PSO is up for tender in April this year, so this will give other operators a chance to put their proposals forward, that is if there are any others than Loganair. Waht we need is for more people to use the flight on personal & business related activity, you can get fairly cheap tickets compared to a full fare if you book early enough through BA on the web.

Interesting point to note on the one funding issue though, both Tiree & Barra recieve funding similar to us on the flights, but they also have heavily subsidised ferries running in to them also??

If & when projects like the golf course come off, i would certainly hope there would be cheaper fares on offer as there are a number of destinations being mentioned by the developer on that project, but again until this happens it is all hearsay.

Our main issue is that we are connected to the mainland via the peninsula, i cant forsee this changing so we will just have to make the best of what we have got.