Fury as isles’ lifeline flights are axed in tender row

LIFELINE air services to some islands are being suspended, throwing travel plans into chaos.

Argyll and Bute Council plans to put Public Service Obligation air links from Oban to Coll, Colonsay, Tiree and Islay out to tender after failing to strike a deal with operator Hebridean Air Services, whose contract expires on May 15.

The local authority’s plan to retender the contract will delay flights until next summer.

Airline general manager Andy Jolly said they had been left with no alternative but to advise travellers of the suspension of services, as the firm had nocontract to continue.

Argyll Nationalist MSP Michael Russell said: ‘I am shocked that the council have known for the last fortnight this service would have to be withdrawn and have done nothing.’

Sheena Nisbet, chairman of Colonsay Community Council, said: ‘This is a nightmare. We depend on the plane for medical services, for pupils to get back from Oban High School at weekends.’

However, a council spokesman accused the airline of making an ‘inflated bid’ over the local authority’s £2.1million three-year budget and ‘walking away from negotiations’ He added: ‘The option existed for HAS to submit a bid for a reduced service but it chose not to do so.

‘The flights must be sustainable and any subsidy has to provide best value for the public purse.’