Loganair to provide Royal Mail services to Scotland's islands
Royal Mail has awarded a new five-year contract to Loganair to fly its mail throughout Scotland and beyond. Loganair will become one of only two airlines selected by Royal Mail to operate its mail air freight programme which delivers letters and parcels to Scotland’s major islands and into the wider UK postal network.
The new contract will begin on 1 February. On behalf of the Universal Service Provider, Loganair will use larger Saab 340 Freighter aircraft on dedicated services to Orkney and Shetland will increase the air capacity for mail and small parcel deliveries to Scotland’s islands.
The new contract will lead to the creation of 24 new Loganair jobs based in Scotland for pilots, engineers and ground handling staff. Employment opportunities are being created for pilots and engineers in Inverness and Aberdeen and for ground handling staff in Orkney and Shetland.
The airline will continue to provide the Western Isles mail service linking Inverness with Stornoway and Benbecula. Loganair will also have new responsibilities for linking Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Inverness and continue to fly between Inverness and the mail hub at East Midlands as part of Royal Mail’s overnight delivery network.
To provide the new contract, Loganair will expand its fleet of Saab 340 freighter aircraft (above) from two to four. All four aircraft will be exclusively used on Royal Mail’s network and carry its well-known insignia, and one will serve as a dedicated standby aircraft that will be stationed at Inverness.
Euan McMurdo, Royal Mail’s Logistics Director, said: “Royal Mail is proud to be the universal provider for mail throughout all of Scotland and serve all 2.5 million addresses in the country. We are pleased to be awarding this new contract to Loganair, one of our longstanding suppliers serving the Scottish Islands. The introduction of larger aircraft on our services to and from Orkney and Shetland will double the freight capacity on these flights, which we’re sure will be warmly welcomed by island residents and local businesses alike.”
Loganair will also continue long-standing arrangements to carry mail on its regular scheduled flights between Glasgow, Islay, Barra and Tiree, together with guaranteeing mail deliveries to five outer isles of Orkney via its unique inter-isles air service.
Loganair’s Managing Director, Jonathan Hinkles, said: “We are delighted to have won this contract through a new agreement with Royal Mail. It is the largest single contract award in Loganair’s 54-year history.
“The creation of 24 new jobs at four locations in Scotland to support the new contract is fantastic news. The training of new pilots and engineers for our expanded network of services for Royal Mail is already under way, and it will significantly increase the scale of Loganair’s employment at both Inverness and Aberdeen airports.”