Review of Loganair flight Edinburgh → Shetland in Economy

I have been planning to visit Shetland and Orkney for a long time, and I also wanted to try the world’s shortest flight between Papa Westray and Westray.

My itinerary was:

Keflavík to Glasgow, Icelandair, business
Edinburgh to Shetland Sumburgh, Loganair
Shetland to Orkney Kirkwall, Logainair
Orkney to Westray, Loganair
Westray to Papa Westray, Loganair
Papa Westray to Orkney, Loganair
Orkney to Edinburgh, Loganair

While most of the UK’s airlines work either on the low-cost model or focus on holiday destinations, Loganair is very different. It’s a regional airline with a focus on Shetland, Orkney and the Hebrides in Scotland where its services are vital for many smaller communities. It operates a fleet of small aircrafts and regional jets, such as Twin Otters, BN-2’s, Saab 340’s, Embraer 135’s and 145’s.

I had to wake up very early. I took a Uber from my hotel in Edinburgh to the airport. The driver was very friendly and the ride cost me only 16 pounds. There’s was already a traffic jam as we were approaching the airport.

Morning hours are very busy at Edinbourgh Airport with a lot of departures



I already checked in on-line and I only had hand luggage so I proceeded directly to security. This sign indicated a waiting time of 13 minutes. While security was well organised it took me a total of 40 minutes to go through – it’s just too much.



There are quite a few shops, cafes and restaurants airside. I bought some food and I waited near the gate.



The weather was really bad



My hand luggage was checked in at the gate. Boarding was by bus although the plane was at a very short distance from the terminal.

Our plane today was a Saab 340, registration number G-LGNE, built in 1989, thirty years ago. It was however in a very good condition.



The cabin has 10 rows in a 1+2 configuration plus a last row with 4 seats making a total capacity of 34 passengers. The cabin looked nice, modern, comfortable.



The rear of the cabin



View from seat 10A



Legroom was better than it looks on the photo



The very chatty captain informed us of an expected flight time of one hour and a cruising altitude of 16,000 feet.

Push-back was exactly on time at 07.25 but there was huge queue on the taxiways and we took off only at 07.50 from runway 06.

The view after take-off



And the view two minutes after take-off – it was very cloudy



The on-board magazine



Loganair’s fleet



Coffee or tea was available alongside with a choice of snacks offered from a basket



We got out of the clouds only shortly before landing with some nice views



We landed at 08.50 and we were at the gate 08.55 exactly according to schedule.

Our plane after landing



Thank you for reading my flight report.



The Shetland Islands are located north of mainland Scotland. The distance from Edinburgh is 450 kms while it’s only 365 kms from Bergen in Norway and 400 kms from Torshavn in the Faroe Islands. The total area of the Shetlands is 1,466 sq kms out of which Shetland Mainland is 967 sq kms. The population is only 23,000 people for all the Shetland and 18,700 for Shetland Mainland only.

Tourism is not the main industry with about 75,000 arrivals only. Most visitors come by cruise ships.

There are no world famous sights but a lot of small things to see.

Sumburgh Head is near the airport



Houses in Scalloway



Scalloway Museum is small but definitely very interesting



Lerwick, the capital is actually very nice although it was raining when I was there



Eshaness Lighthouse is in the North



How are you Human and why are you looking at me?