Boost for air service on Barra

Highlands and islands transport chiefs expressed confidence yesterday that air links to the Hebridean island of Barra will be guaranteed.

The Hitrans regional transport body and its sister organisation of ZetTrans in Shetland are currently reviewing air services across the region to establish aviation priorities for the next 12 years.

A consultants’ report, considered yesterday at a Hitrans meeting at Inverness Airport, includes a proposal to construct a conventional runway on Barra as a substitute for its iconic beach landing strip.

Feedback to a consultation suggested the existing arrangements were “unsustainable”, but with no obvious solution.

Options proposed were dependent on approval from aviation authorities for the use of single-engined aircraft or the use of seaplanes for scheduled services “which may not be obtainable in the short to medium term, if ever”.

The report states that, without such agreements, the options are to retain use of the beach, build a new runway, introduce a more costly helicopter service or construct a causeway to neighbouring Eriskay. It concludes the sustainability of air links to Barra “should be secured for the foreseeable future”, and possibly achieved by the Scottish Government providing two new Twin Otter-style aircraft for the Glasgow-Barra service from 2013.

The ageing Twin Otters currently operating – the only planes suitable for the windswept beach – are expensive to maintain.

Current operator Loganair last month dismissed a suggestion that it was not prepared to continue providing the service as “completely inaccurate”.

Hitrans director Dave Duthie said he was “confident” of a future for the Barra service, having been encouraged by Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson’s recent commitment in Holyrood to the service.