Loganair to take on 16 former Flybe routes

Scottish airline Loganair has announced plans to take on 16 routes operated by collapsed carrier Flybe.

The routes, from existing Loganair base airports at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Newcastle, will be launched over the next four months.

They include services between Aberdeen and Belfast City, Edinburgh and Manchester and Glasgow and Exeter.

The airline said it aimed to "maintain essential air connectivity within the UK regions to keep customers flying".

The first service will begin on 16 March, and Loganair has published a full list of the routes.

Flybe went into administration on Thursday after a bid for fresh financial support failed.

The collapse hit thousands of Scottish travellers as flights were cancelled.

The additional routes to Loganair's network will see the airline operate up to 400 new services each week.

Additional 70-seat ATR 72 turboprop aircraft will join Loganair's fleet over the coming weeks to service the new routes, alongside the existing 44-strong fleet of turboprop and Embraer regional jet aircraft.

Loganair said it would be recruiting additional pilots, cabin crew and engineers to be based at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle airports to support the expansion.

It expects more than 100 new posts to be created across the four locations.

In a statement, Loganair said it would be prioritising applications from former Flybe staff for all of the roles.

Loganair chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said the collapse of Flybe marked "a desperately sad day", especially for the airline's employees and for customers facing disruption to their journeys.

"By stepping in quickly with a comprehensive plan, Loganair is aiming to maintain essential air connectivity within the UK regions to keep customers flying, and to offer new employment to former Flybe staff members who are facing an uncertain future today," he said.

Customers formerly booked on Flybe services on the same routes will need to make new bookings at www.loganair.co.uk, and obtain a refund via their payment card provider for tickets booked with Flybe.

Loganair stressed it had no access to Flybe systems or customer data to be able to facilitate re-bookings.