Loganair newspaper delivery

Loganair has said it would be willing to look at transporting newspapers by plane to Lewis and Uist.

A larger plane - the Saab 2000 - with a bigger cargo hold will be used on some morning flights from the summer which may provide a partial solution to the late arrival of mainland newspapers to the Western Isles

Following a move by cllr Donald Crichton, the comhairle made the request to Jonathan Hinkles, managing director of the airline at a meeting in Stornoway.

Switching the daily newspaper transport from freight plane to ferry in 2013 delays their arrival to mid-afternoon and is generally agreed to be an unsatisfactory situation.

Papers do not arrive in the shops until close to teatime in some parts of Uist on some days.

Customer trade at many small rural shops revolves around the arrival of newspapers.

Numerous disrupted ferry sailings over the winter results in many days without newspapers.

Jonathan Hinkles said: “The subject of newspaper deliveries to the Western Isles was raised by councillors at Thursday’s meeting and I outlined Loganair would be prepared to visit the issue once again in the correct circumstances.”

However, it is not known if publishers will be willing to return to plane deliveries due to cost grounds.

Though island circulation has dropped by around 18%, with local shops taking a hit in takings, the ferry route saves the publishers money.

Loganair agrees to look at morning newspaper delivery

4 December 2016