Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Time to get back to basics so London flights can stay aloft
JUST when it looked like we had our act together for flights, what with the glitzy arrival of an Amsterdam link, along comes news the Dundee to London service could go.
It is under serious threat after Flybe announced an end to a long-standing agreement to operate flights for Loganair.
I’ve written here many times about ways to improve our chances of having successful and profitable flights.
Many of you have provided suggestions, which I’ve mentioned, including moving our airport to Leuchars and a detailed plan from a former airport employee about expanding the runway at Dundee.
This week, let’s forget all of these details and go back to basics — because forgetting the basics has landed us in this mess.
How hard can it be to keep going our London flights? And yes, if you sense anger, there’s steam coming from my keyboard.
Every day, Dundonians drive to Edinburgh or Glasgow, incurring petrol and parking costs, to fly to London.
In other words, there is a captive market for people who have to travel, and if Dundee had a credible alternative, flights would be full.
But they don’t have a credible
alternative and this is for two main reasons.
One: No one wants to go to Stansted. There is nothing quick about getting to London after landing, with transporting yourself a costly and time-consuming addition.
Two: People might be willing to put up with this hassle if the flights were cheap. But they’re not. In fact, they are — or at least any time I’ve looked — ridiculously expensive, nearing £200 each way.
What about the subsidised tickets we were promised?
We’re not daft and we’re not desperate. There are alternatives to get us down to London and back — cheaper flights from other airports and trains that can be reasonably priced, as well as taking out hours of faffing around at check-in and security.
Whoever the people making the decisions are, whether the council, airport bosses, Flybe or Loganair, they are getting it very wrong.
We as a city are going from strengthto-strength. People want to come to Dundee more now than most Dundonians can remember — whether as investors or tourists.
There is no excuse for our failing flights to make news yet again.
I’ve seen the emails, so trust me on this — get together a group of Tele readers and I guarantee you they’d do a better job of getting our flights right.