Isle Of Man Subsidizes London Flights As Loganair Restarts Routes

On Friday, Scottish airline Loganair announced that it had launched services from the Isle of Man to London City and London Heathrow. On April 19th, the inaugural flight to London City is scheduled to operate. It will be a once-daily flight (except Saturdays) before gearing up to a twice-daily flight each weekday from May 3rd. The London Heathrow flights will also commence on May 3rd.

Loganair previously flew from the Isle of Man to London Heathrow. However, the route was axed in August 2021 as the Manx government did not subsidize the route. But this time, the government have supported the route - allowing connectivity between the UK and the Isle of Man.

Previous flights between the two

As mentioned, Loganair suspended the IOM-LHR route in Autumn 2021. This suspension was due to the unexpected loss of demand after the pandemic. Not many people were flying, and it was not financially viable to operate the route.

"The sharp rise in costs of operating services at London's premier airport coupled to the slower-than-expected rebound in passenger numbers after the pandemic mean that the route is not viable unless it has financial support from the Isle of Man Government", said Loganair in a statement.

However, with the resumption of the service, it is now believed that the Government of the Isle of Man will underwrite it until October, according to Alex Allinson, a Member of Parliament on the Isle of Man.

"We are talking about a 72-seater plane, so if we get 50 people on each of the planes, it will be at no cost to the Manx taxpayer," said Mr Allinson.

Loganair is looking to get people doing business in London to fly with them to London City, which is very close to London's financial area. They also hope to get leisure travelers flying to the Isle of Man from the UK.

With the closure of both Flybe and Stobart Air, many of their employees were laid off and without a job. But many of them are now employed by Loganair.

Loganair codeshare agreements

As part of the resumption of flights from IMO-LHR, Loganair has a codeshare agreement with British Airways that allows its Manx passengers to fly to London then connect to any of British Airways' other destinations. This agreement allows easy travel for anyone living on the island.

In addition to this codeshare agreement with British Airways, the Scottish airline also has other agreements with KLM and Blue Islands.

These allow anyone to travel to Amsterdam or any of KLM's destinations via Scotland or even the Isle of Man.

Flight services to the Isle of Man

Isle of Man's main airport mainly serves UK airlines like easyJet and Loganair. The carrier operates flights from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester.

The Isle of Man also has flights to and from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Although the Isle of Man is not in the United Kingdom, it is a Crown Dependency and has many connections with the UK. Hence, the need for flights between the island and London.

What do you think about the resumption of this route? Have you flown to the Isle of Man? Let us know in the comments below.