Doubts over airline challenge
(From The Orcadian dated February 8, 2001)

The cost of air fares to Orkney could be cut if a challenge to British Airways by Stagecoach boss Brian Souter comes to fruition.

But doubts were expressed this week as to whether another airline could operate Orkney's marginal routes at a lower price than BA. There are also concerns that there is not enough business locally to warrant the competition.

The Stagecoach boss is contemplating an expansion of his Scotairways business into the Highlands and Islands, which could result in cheaper fares.

Initially, Scotairways are understood to be looking at the Western Isles, but the news led to speculation that Orkney and Shetland could be included at a future date.

If the move goes ahead, it would break BA's monopoly on the routes.

Flights to the county are currently operated under franchise by British Regional Airways and Loganair. Concerns continue to be expressed locally about the prices charged - a full fare flight from Kirkwall to London, for example, costs £560 including tax.

Cheaper fares would be welcome, but OIC development director Mr Jeremy Baster said there was uncertainty about whether an extra operator was the best way to achieve that.

"There is the risk of over-capacity and therefore becoming uneconomic for each operator," he said. "The key is whether they can generate extra traffic and do it in a way which is sustainable. It would be interesting to see the figures on this.

"One would expect that traffic would increase if fares come down. It might take some people off the ferries because it would become more attractive.

"If you make the service more attractive it will generate more traffic, but the question is, is that going to be enough traffic to make up for the loss in revenue?"

Orkney Tourist Board chairman Captain Bob Sclater said he would also welcome cheaper air fares, but not if they jeopardised the current air services.

"We have a reasonable service with a high profile company - BA," he said. "They provide a good service."

Captain Sclater said the tourist board were in favour of packed charter flights operating, for example, from Edinburgh to Orkney, but only if the scheduled air services were unaffected.

"There is a worry that none of them would make money so you would have a no-win situation," he said.

He said he would prefer to see the BA services subsidised to bring prices down.

"Competition is ideal if there are enough people travelling, but if there are not enough people travelling, the competition makes it unviable for them both."

Kirkwall travel agent Mr Mark Ridgway was dubious about Scotairways' plans to extend, describing them as "nonsense."

Comparing Scotairways' current fares from Edinburgh to London with BA, Mr Ridgway said BA were cheaper.

The cheapest flight offered by Scotairways from Edinburgh to London City was £62, he said, compared to BA's £50 flight from Edinburgh to Heathrow.

Similarly, Scotairways full fare on the same route was £278 compared to BA's £277.

"They have no track record," he said. "Current performance records show he is not remotely interested in cheaper fares."

He added: "There is not enough money there. We have got a population of 19,000, this is not EasyJet land. You are not talking about flying thousands of people from high density areas to other high density areas."