Loganair sets out Isle of Man plans
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Image courtesy Loganair
The airline – which has maintained the Isle of Man’s only passenger air services throughout the Covid-19 pandemic – is responding to demands from customers keen to plan and book ahead for summer travel, in anticipation of Covid-19 vaccines enabling air travel to take place safely and widely once again.
Services to London Heathrow, which started on 1 December as Loganair’s first permanently scheduled service to the UK’s biggest airport after it secured runway slots for the IoM, will increase to double daily flights from 28 March.
Flights to Manchester will increase to two daily from 1 April, and from 1 July services to Manchester and Liverpool will have a further increase in flight frequency, with Manchester stepping up to four per day and Liverpool to three per day.
Birmingham services, cancelled last year following the demise of previous operator Flybe, will re-start on 1 April with a four- times a week service which then increases to daily from 22 May. Edinburgh services will restart with three flights each week from April, building to four from 25 May.
New routes from the Isle of Man are to Southampton, with three fights a week from 26 May – ideal for onward connections to the Channel Islands with Loganair’s partner airline Blue Islands, and for those meeting cruise sailings; to Belfast City four times a week from 1 April increasing to six times weekly from 24 May; and a seasonal non-stop service linking the Isle of Man with Jersey, flying every Saturday from 22 May until late September. Seats on all these routes are on sale from today.
Loganair chief executive Jonathan Hinkles (above) said: “We are heartened to be able to further increase the island’s connectivity with these announcements. We’re already seeing bookings coming in for destinations such as Jersey and Cornwall, and it was increasingly clear that the Isle of Man was missing out. Today’s announcements will provide clarity for both our customers on the Isle of Man and those on the ‘other island’ and beyond wishing to plan and book for the summer.”
“We’ve taken a phased approach to increasing the number of flights on offer, in anticipation of a progressive recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and re-opening of borders. Of course, we will continue to work closely with the airport management team and the Isle of Man Government to prioritise public health and continued connectivity.”
Loganair is also planning to increase the numbers of seats available across all routes by introducing larger ATR72 turboprop aircraft, which can carry up to 70 people per flight. The airline, now the UK’s largest regional operator, employs pilots and cabin crew based in the Isle of Man and contracts the maintenance of its aircraft to local company M&A Technical Services, which is based at Ronaldsway Airport.
