(Image: Pictureguy20/CC)
The leader of Dundee Council has admitted it is a challenge to attract airlines to the city’s airport as Loganair prepares to axe its services.
The airline is set to close its operation base at Dundee Airport on October 23.
It comes following a review of the viability of its services.
Loganair currently operates flights to London Heathrow, Kirkwall in Orkney, and Sumburgh in Shetland.
However, services between these destinations will all end when the base shuts.
Loganair’s withdrawal from Dundee also leaves the airport with no commercial flights.
Ahead of the base closure on October 23, Dundee City Council (DCC) leader Mark Flynn spoke about the challenges facing the airport.
And the SNP councillor admitted it was difficult to attract airlines to bid for the public service obligation (PSO) contract which props up the Dundee to London service.
Under the PSO agreement, any airline which operates the service receives cash from DCC and the Scottish and UK Governments to plug the income shortfall.
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Councillor Flynn said: “We’ve gone out to tender (for the PSO) on numerous occasions since I’ve been a councillor.
“It’s been very challenging to get numerous operators wanting to come to the airport; usually it’s just the one that gets involved with it.
“Loganair have been quite supportive over the last number of years, that’s why the disappointment is there.
“At the moment, we have to re-evaluate where we are with this.
“The PSO is mainly aimed at getting down to London and back on the same day. So that review is having to be done, and we will have to wait and see what comes from that.”
The council leader also highlighted the easy access to Edinburgh Airport as a particular challenge for Dundee.
He added: “What we are seeing at the moment is more services being provided by various operators to go to Edinburgh Airport.
“We see Explore are doing that with their own bus, and we see Ember are now going via the airport as well.
“It’s 45 minutes to Edinburgh Airport, and that’s probably one of the challenges of trying to get people to stay within Dundee and use the airport.”
“I think having a regional airport has its benefits, because it actually highlights the area and region itself, but the challenges are there.
“The inconvenience of that extra hour or so (travelling to Edinburgh Airport), I think most people in reality would find that acceptable.
“I think that’s why the PSO is for businesses, people flying on business trips, it’s a different demographic in some ways in how they want to use it.
“It never actually turned into a great hub in the sense of our tourism, unfortunately.”