Scotland’s Loganair is to replace Aer Lingus Regional on the Donegal to Glasgow route later this year. Services between this remote city in Ireland have been operating to Glasgow for a number of years on a commercial basis.
The route can’t make a lot of money as Flybe operated the route up to 2015, then Aer Lingus Regional took over, and now the route will be flown by Loganair. There must be some demand there though as no-one would fly it.
Loganair Schedule
Flights will operate four times per week, leaving Glasgow at 12:45 on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and arriving in Donegal at 13:45. Return flights operate the same day from Donegal to Glasgow, leaving at 14:15 and arriving at 15:20.
This is an improvement on the current thrice weekly service operated by Aer Lingus Regional on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Perhaps the increased frequency will attract more passengers.
Loganair Fares
At the moment, fares on Aer Lingus Regional are around £32.99 each way and the Loganair flights will cost slightly more. Looking at March, it seems to be priced between £48 and £55 each way.
The seat maps show 34 seats on the new services which means it will be operated by the Saab 340B. There are thirteen of these aircraft in service at Loganair, being their largest fleet type by far.
Overall Thoughts
Regional air services are sometimes quite dubious which is why some are operated as a Public Service Obligation or PSO. The other route at Donegal’s Carrickfinn airport is operated to Dublin under this basis, which means it is subsidised by the Irish Government.
Donegal Now report that the route to Scotland contributes over 11,000 passengers annually to the airport. This is around one sixth of their overall passenger numbers so it is important it continues.
Have you flown between Donegal and Glasgow before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by MrAvgeek via Wikimedia Commons.
