Loch Lomond Seaplanes ready for take off to Oban
Seaplanes are returning to Oban, bringing with them a welcome tourist boom.
Owner and chief pilot David West of Loch Lomond Seaplanes is confident daily flights from Duck Bay to the town will take off again, adding thousands of visitors to Oban’s yearly tourist tally.
March next year will see the start of at least two flights a day, three to four times a week, throughout the whole year, said Mr West.
‘Every day for the past seven years since we stopped the Oban flights in the recession, we’ve been getting calls. Everyone’s been asking for flights to Oban and now we’re giving them what they want. We’re done with hanging around for Brexit and we’re making changes and expanding to meet customers’ demands,’ added Mr West, who runs popular air tours over the West Coast and Loch Lomond National Park.
The £3 million amphibian plane, which boasts six inches more leg room that a British Airways economy seat, can carry 10 people, including the pilot, and will be landing at Oban marina at Kerrera before passengers use the regular ferry to make the short trip to and from Oban’s North Pier.
‘We’ll see how it goes. Things could change and we could bring in even more flights. Details will be up on our website next week so people can start to book for next year.
Pontoons
‘We won’t be using Oban’s pontoons because they get pretty stacked up in the height of the season. Although they’d be ideal, we’d need three or four spaces to land, so we’ll use Kerrera and stay out of people’s way,’ added Mr West.
Until 2012, when the service was no longer financially viable, Loch Lomond Seaplanes were bringing around 6,000 people a year to Oban, including visitors from around the world and closer to home.
‘People book with us from all over the world and direct from the States more and more. It’s not just for highend tourists, there’s also a big bucket-list thing going on and we get families and friends clubbing together to make a trip with us.
‘We believe the way forward is to come back to Oban. It’s going to be a great way for people to spend the day and it’s great news for the town and businesses,’ said Mr West, who will be looking to build in short-break packages with hotels and restaurants.
Mr West added that the attraction of seeing the planes fly over Oban and land in the bay would also draw more visitors to the town.
BID4Oban chief executive Andy Spence said: ‘It’s fantastic news for the town that the seaplanes are coming back. BID4Oban will be working with them very closely to make sure that it is a success.’
Next to benefit from the ‘seaplane effect’ could be Tobermory and the Isle of Bute, revealed Mr West.