UK’s Eastern Airways wins northern Scottish PSO contract

Eastern Airways (T3, Humberside) has been selected as the operator for a new Public Service Obligation route between Wick and Aberdeen Dyce in northern Scotland.

Services are due to begin on April 11 and will be operated 12x weekly (with a slightly smaller number of frequencies during the first two weeks of operations). Eastern Airways will deploy a Jetstream 41 configured for up to 29 passengers in a single-class seating on the route. The carrier will receive an annual GBP1 million pound (USD1.3 million) subsidy from Transport Scotland and an additional GBP300,000 (USD400,000) from The Highland Council.

Wick, which is the northernmost airport in mainland United Kingdom, lost all scheduled services in March 2020. Eastern Airways used to operate the route to Aberdeen as a part of its franchise with flybe. (2002), while Loganair plied the route to Edinburgh. The former ceased operations when flybe. folded in early March 2020, while the latter decided to close the non-subsidised service due to accumulating losses aggravated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In February 2021, the Scottish government earmarked GBP4 million (USD5.3 million) to relaunch services from Wick under a PSO contract. The tender was announced in October 2021 and sought operators for both defunct routes. However, the contract for the Edinburgh service has not been awarded.

Aberdeen is currently Eastern Airways’ only Scottish destination. The airline operates from the city to Newcastle, GB and Humberside, the ch-aviation schedules module shows.