Loganair launches 15-minute flight from Edinburgh to Glasgow

The Scottish carrier says the route isn’t just a novel way of cutting rush hour traffic on the M8, but that its origins have a more sensible justification

In a bid to keep services to destinations such as Stornoway and Kirkwall open during the pandemic, Loganair has rerouted some flights via “mini-hubs” on its network, creating a very short connection between Scotland’s two largest cities in the process.

Loganair
(Photo Aviation Image Network/Simon Gregory)

The flights – LM322 and LM498 – are both scheduled to take 30 minutes but look to usually be covering the distance between the two sites in about 15 to 25 minutes.

The company responded earlier this month to claims that the flights were a publicity stunt. Taking to social media, a spokesperson said: “If you've been in Edinburgh Airport lately you might have spotted what you thought was a mistake on the departure screens... flights to Glasgow Airport.

“Well, it's no mistake, no publicity stunt, nor is it just a novel way of cutting down on rush hour traffic on the M8. The actual reason, however, is another side-effect of the pandemic... With insufficient demand for some routes from Edinburgh directly, we've temporarily amended our schedules to provide new mini-hubs across our network, allowing you to fly routes such as Edinburgh-Stornoway, via Glasgow, and Inverness to Kirkwall, via Aberdeen, to keep you connected as best as we possibly can right now.”

The Glasgow-based carrier has rostered an Embraer ERJ-145 for the 45-mile route which normally takes around one hour to complete in a car.