Loganair Saab 340 Review: Inverness to Glasgow via Stornoway

Background

Back in September 2017, I had inadvertently caught a ride on a Saab 2000 from Belfast City to Newcastle. Whilst few enthusiasts would complain about flying onboard this relatively rare type, this flight had been scheduled to be operated by an AIS Airlines Jetstream 32 on behalf of Eastern Airways. However, at the last minute, this was replaced by an Adria Airways Switzerland Saab 2000. Since then, I had wanted to complete the set and sample the delights of the type’s smaller predecessor, the Saab 340.

Since taking delivery of their first example in 1999, the small venerable 34-seat Saab 340 turboprop has played an integral part in the fleet of Scottish carrier Loganair, and living in the UK, this would be the easiest way for me to fly onboard a Saab 340. As of May 2021, thirteen examples remain in the airline’s fleet – four of which have been converted to freighters, with the remaining nine Saab 340Bs shuttling passengers around Scotland and set to eventually be replaced by ATRs. Interestingly, aside from their very short and unusual Embraer service between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Loganair also sells tickets between two other airports on the Scottish mainland – Inverness and Glasgow. However, unlike the direct flight between Scotland’s two largest cities, these flights require a stopover of varying lengths in Stornoway on the Outer Hebridean island of the Isle of Lewis with a few options also having a brief stop at Benbecula too. On the surface, such flights may appear to be as logical as Loganair’s flight between Edinburgh and Glasgow. However, with the quickest itineraries taking 2H25, this serves to be quicker than travelling between Inverness and Glasgow by road and rail – journeys of around 3H00 and 3H30 respectively. Furthermore, priced at an acceptable amount and with several combinations operated by Saab 340s on both sectors, this seemed to be a good, cost-effective option for a frugal enthusiast such as myself.

Booking

Whilst this was to be my third time booking a flight with Scotland’s national airline, for some unknown reason I had yet to make use of Loganair’s app to purchase tickets. With no reason not to try this out, I opened up the Play Store and quickly downloaded the app onto my Android phone. Upon opening this up, I was greeted by the sight of a tartan tail of one of Loganair’s Embraer aircraft, beneath which sat three options: ‘Book a Flight’, ‘Book an ADS Flight’ and ‘My Bookings & Check-in’.

After selecting the flight booking option, I was taken to the flight search engine where I entered the relevant information and was presented with two options within seconds. These took the form of a shorter morning combination with a forty-minute stop in Stornoway, and a longer afternoon itinerary with a 4H55 break between flights. Both the morning and afternoon Inverness to Stornoway flights would be operated by Loganair Saab 340 aircraft, whilst the former option involved an Embraer 145 flight down to Glasgow, and the latter a Saab 340. Seeing as I would arrive in Inverness the previous evening, and wanting some time to explore Scotland’s northern hub as well as Stornoway, I decided to go for the afternoon flight option.

Whilst I did not intend on carrying any hold luggage, I was somewhat impressed by Loganair’s baggage policy which I found to be rather generous for a European airline. Those travelling on the cheapest Fly fare are offered 15kg of luggage, whilst those on Fly Flex and Fly Flex + tickets can bring along 23kg and 30kg of hold luggage respectively. That day, the cheapest tickets were priced at £97.65, whilst both higher fare classes offered for a £30 premium. As per usual I opted to go for the cheapest tickets – the only benefit of the higher fare for me would be the complimentary seat selection. However, owing to social distancing measures, all seats onboard the Saab 340 would be window seats – furthermore, had I wished to select seats, I would have been able to do this for an additional £6 per sector.

Once I had selected my flight combination, I entered my details before paying for my ticket. With the entire process taking no longer than two minutes, booking via Loganair’s app proved to be a stress-free and easy process. My only slight complaint was that it appeared that I could not select seats at the time of booking, something which is possible to do when booking tickets via Loganair’s website. However, seeing as I did not intend to pay to reserve seats, this was not a major issue for me.

Check-in

Online check-in is available for most of Loganair’s services, the main exception to this being the carrier’s inter-Orkney Islander-operated flights. With this opening up exactly 96 hours before departure, as the clock struck 1400 on the Thursday before my Monday flight, I opened up Loganair’s app and commenced the check-in process for the first flight of my itinerary. Whilst I had not opted to reserve a seat for the flight, I believed that Loganair allowed passengers to select their seat during check-in. Unfortunately, I soon realised that the airline uses the LCC tactic of random seat allocation to encourage passengers to pay an additional fee to pre-select their seats. Being a domestic flight and thus with no need to enter passport information, check-in was over in seconds and I soon received my mobile boarding pass which revealed that I had received Seat 12C for the flight to the Isle of Lewis.

Whilst this was initially of no concern, I soon realised that Loganair labelled their Saab seat numbers in an ACD rather than ABC, indicating that I had received an aisle seat. Whilst there was little that I could do to rectify this, seeking to avoid a similar aisle fate on my flight down to Glasgow, I went ahead and paid the £6 to reserve a window seat, specifically Seat 10A.

Inverness to Stornoway

Despite my 1400 departure time, I had to check out of my hotel by 1030. Ten minutes before this, I dropped off my keys at reception and made my way down the steps and out onto one of the backstreets of central Inverness. My lodgings for the night had been far from luxurious, with the greasy scent of a takeaway located within the building wafting into my room throughout the evening, and the shouting and singing of noisy drunks having kept me awake after my journey up from London. However, having paid only £36 for a single ensuite room, I could not make too many complaints, especially given the hotel’s central location. That morning, Inverness was basking in the early summer sunshine and so I decided to have a short walk around the city centre before heading over to the airport.

Inverness Airport sits between the blue waters of the Moray Firth and the railway line that runs between Aberdeen and Inverness. Whilst there are plans to reopen the station at Dalcross which would enable easy rail connections to the airport, unfortunately, this is not scheduled to reopen until late 2022. Thus, with no other railway stations nearby and not overly enthusiastic about making the eight-mile trek to the airport on foot, I opted to catch the bus to the airport. Operated by Stagecoach, whilst being a regular city bus, this comes at a higher price tag, with a ride to the airport costing a whopping £5! At 1105, At 1105 I headed over to the city’s bus station where a modern single-decker bus could be seen ready and waiting to head off to the airport. After paying £5 by contactless card, I made my way to the back of the bus and took a seat. Despite this being modern, clean and complete with USB-A ports, I still found it difficult to argue that this ride was worth £5.

Upon pulling out of the bus station, the bus journeyed eastwards through Inverness’ residential suburbs, although these were soon replaced by scenic vistas of fields and the Moray Firth. Around thirty minutes after leaving the bus station, the airport and its small apron came into view where a host of aircraft could be seen waiting for their next missions. These included a very suave-looking all-black Dassault Falcon 7X operated by Swedish private jet company Svenskt Industriflyg alongside a couple of utilitarian Loganair freighters and an EasyJet Airbus A320neo which was about to head southwards to London. A few minutes later, the bus pulled up to the bus stop located right outside the entrance to the terminal.

From the outside, Inverness Airport appears to be atypical of many British regional airports, with its terminal coming in the form of a small yet modern low-rise structure. At first glance, this seemed to be a little similar to Southampton Airport’s terminal which I had passed through the previous year on my Jetstream 41 voyage from Southampton to Aberdeen. However, further research revealed that these were designed by different architects. Upon entering the terminal, I found this to be compact yet clean and modern, home to check-in desks for both British Airways and Loganair, whilst other facilities included the Stag and Thistle Bar and Kitchen, a gift shop and a closed branch of WHSmiths.

Lacking any bags to drop off and seeing as I would be using my mobile boarding pass for the flight to Stornoway, I made a beeline for security where I joined a queue of five passengers. Seeing as only one security checkpoint was open, it took a couple of minutes to reach the front of the queue where I was greeted by an incredibly friendly and chatty, yet efficient security worker. Without any issues or the need for further checks, I passed through the metal detector and collected my bag before arriving in the airport’s airside departure area. Unsurprisingly, this is rather small although it does feature all the basic amenities that one would expect to find at an airport with each facility in the landside area replicated – this being home to another café-bar, a gift shop specialising in whiskey and a WHSmiths, alongside an Aspire lounge. Importantly, the terminal remained clean and tidy for the duration of my stay. Meanwhile, I found the complimentary wifi to work well throughout the terminal. My only slight complaint was that charging points were slightly hard to come by compared to many other airports.

As an aviation enthusiast, I was delighted to find that large glass windows offered views of the apron and runway – although the fact that the public portions of the terminal are located on the ground floor level of the terminal did obstruct views a little. After exploring the small airside area, I settled down on a wooden stool just as a Cessna Citation 560XL operated by NetJets UK made its way over to a remote stand following a flight up from London. That day, a total of ten scheduled passenger services would depart Inverness, however before my flight there would only be a single departure – an EasyJet Airbus A319 operated service to Bristol. As the departure time for the Bristol flight neared, the terminal became rather busy before emptying once boarding was called for this flight. However, the Bristol-bound passengers were soon replaced by those heading to Birmingham, Gatwick and Stornoway. Outside, aircraft movements could be described as sporadic at best – aside from the aforementioned Airbus A319 and Cessna Citation, during my wait several local light aircraft could be seen flying circuits, alongside a Coastguard AgustaWestland AW189 as it returned from a mission over the North Sea. Slightly later on, these aircraft were joined by a Loganair Embraer 145 that arrived from Belfast City.

At 1325, the Saab that would operate the afternoon service to Benbecula via Stornoway touched down in Inverness following its flight from Sumburgh via Kirkwall. This particular aircraft took the form of Saab 340B G-LGND. Having made its first flight from Linkoping with the test registration SE-F69 in October 1989, at the time of my flight this particular example was almost 32 years old thus making it one of the older airliners that I have flown on. In December 1989, the aircraft crossed the Atlantic and commenced its career in the United States with Metroflight as N588MA, operating services on behalf of American Eagle. In 1996, the aircraft headed back across the Atlantic, beginning a new life with the long-defunct carrier Business Air as G-GNTH, operating services for British Midland Commuter and painted in the airline’s distinctive blue, grey, black and red livery. The aircraft changed hands once again in September 2001 when it was painted in the British Airways livery and given its current registration G-LGND, heralding the start of its life in Scotland. Since then, the aircraft has also worn the colours of Flybe before receiving its current Loganair livery in 2018. Unlike Loganair’s other Saab 340 aircraft which sport names related to their island destinations, this particular aircraft is christened ‘Spirit of Sandy’ in memory of one of the airline’s late captains. In the week before my flight, this particular Saab had flown 39 sectors, covering almost 5,000 miles and visiting Aberdeen, Ålesund, Benbecula, Inverness, Kirkwall, Sumburgh and Stornoway.

Following a short taxi, the terminal was temporarily filled with the noise produced by the Saab’s two General Electric CT7 turboprop engines as it came to a halt at a stand outside. Once these spooled down, a stream of passengers filtered out of the aircraft at the end of their voyage from the Shetland Islands. Meanwhile, a new crew of three could be seen arriving at the aircraft ready to relieve the crew of their duties. Seeing as the inbound Saab had arrived only a few minutes before the Stornoway flight’s scheduled boarding time of 1330, I was not surprised when this time came and went with the only boarding announcement made being for those heading off on Loganair’s Embraer service to Birmingham. Doubtful that it could take an entire thirty minutes to board a 34-seat Saab, I was confident that the delay in boarding would not impact the flight’s departure time.

Following a very short wait, it appeared that boarding would commence soon when two passengers requiring assistance were taken across to the Saab. At 1345, those bound for Benbecula and Stornoway were invited to head over to Gate 3. Seeing as I had waited near the gate, I ended up being the first passenger at the podium and so without any queuing, I scanned my mobile boarding pass. After receiving a reassuring beep, I was wished a nice flight and advised to head outside where I was pointed in the direction of the aircraft by one of the ground crew. That afternoon, despite the aircraft’s size, boarding was to be undertaken by a mobile boarding ramp. Whilst the practice of boarding small aircraft via such ramps is fairly common in North America as well as in other regions across the world, these are still not too common at airports in the UK. Interestingly, later on during the flight I overheard two Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) executives discussing the benefits of these newly introduced solar-powered ramps, and learned that these are deployed at all of the company’s airports. Aside from offering an accessible and convenient means of boarding, from an enthusiasts’ perspective, these provide a superb close-up view of the large engine and its four-blade Dowty propellers. Looking ahead, to the right of the cabin door decals promoting Loganair’s Clan Loganair loyalty programme and status as the 2018 European Regions Airline Association’s Airline of the Year Gold Reward recipient could be seen.

Without waiting, I bent my head slightly and entered the small forward galley area where I was given a friendly welcome by the sole flight attendant onboard. Once I had shown my boarding pass, I was instructed to head to the rear row where a row of four seats could be seen. Whilst this particular aircraft was one of the oldest airliners I had flown, the only real signs of its age could be seen through the slightly dated-looking panelling. Between 2016 and 2017, Loganair undertook a £3.5 million renewal project to upgrade their Saab 340 aircraft. As a result, the Saabs’ traditional comfortable and well-padded seats had been replaced by more modern, thinner and lightweight seats, as well as new carpets and (I think?) improved cabin lighting. Seemingly well maintained, as I took my seat I was impressed to find absolutely no sign of any wear and tear, whilst the cabin also appeared spotlessly clean. Thus, to the untrained eye, I have little doubt that most will have believed the aircraft to be much younger than its actual age. Most surprisingly given their very thin appearance, the seat was soft and well padded, whilst offering a superb amount of legroom – something that is quite rare on a small turboprop. The backs of these featured a very small tray table designed for drinks and light snacks, as well as a seatback pocket. This contained a plain sick bag as well as two safety cards – one for the Saab 340 and another for the Saab 2000, a type that was retired from Loganair’s fleet fifteen months before my flight!

Having ended up in an aisle seat, I had hoped that the flight would not be full so I could move across to either Seat 12A or D. However, as passengers streamed onto the aircraft it seemed increasingly unlikely that that would be the case. Indeed, within a couple of minutes, both seats were taken and I spent the short journey next to a friendly Isle of Lewis local who offered me some travel tips for the island and reassuringly informed me not to worry as he had received both doses of his COVID-19 vaccine! Within about five minutes, all passengers had made it onto the aircraft, after which the main cabin door was closed and the captain performed a friendly and brief welcome announcement, noting good weather en route and a flight time of thirty minutes to Stornoway. This was then followed by a welcome and safety announcement from the sole crew member, which included advice about masks and an apology for the lack of any service onboard to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

As the welcome announcement reached its end, the two turboprops whirled into life which expectedly filled the cabin with plenty of noise and a decent level of vibration. Whilst Loganair’s Saabs received improved insulation to reduce the levels of noise inside the cabin during their recent refurbishments, the ride was perhaps more noisy than that of a ‘typical’ airliner or a larger turboprop. After a minute or so, the aircraft lurched forward and quickly turned around making a seconds-long taxi over to the end of Runway 05. Without any holding, the aircraft taxied onto the runway and made what seemed like a gentle take-off roll, soon rotating up into the sunny skies of Scotland.

Shortly after departure, the aircraft banked left and I peered over to see superb views of the Moray Firth, with many of those seated on the left-hand side of the cabin appearing to be captivated by the views offered. At this point, I became slightly disappointed in myself for not paying an additional £6 for a window seat on this short flight. Within a few short minutes, the aircraft reached its low cruising altitude of 10,000 feet, however, the seatbelt signs remained on and the cabin crew member remained strapped into their seat as we cruised northwest across the picturesque Highlands. With little to do, I chatted with my friendly neighbour and before I knew it the captain asked the cabin crew member to prepare the cabin for landing before the aircraft could be felt descending.

At this point in the flight, the aircraft was passing over Ullapool – a town home to the main ferry terminal that links the mainland with Stornoway. Inside the cabin, the cabin crew member passed through once again, checking all onboard were wearing their seatbelts and the cabin was secure for the aircraft’s arrival. As the aircraft closed in on the island, the flaps were lowered, followed by the gear and the island’s coast came into view. The aircraft then turned south to line up for a landing on Stornoway Airport’s Runway 18. Soon enough, the aircraft performed a gentle touchdown before braking heavily and making a short taxi over to the airport’s small terminal. In the usual fashion, following landing the flaps were retracted and the cabin crew member welcomed all onboard to Stornoway, thanked those disembarking for flying with Loganair and requested all Benbecula-bound passengers to remain onboard the aircraft.

Once the aircraft pulled up to the terminal, the engines spooled down and the cabin door was promptly opened before the solar-powered ramp was pushed up to the aircraft and disembarkation began. Following a short wait as passengers fought to remove their bags from the small overhead lockers, I thanked the crew member who wished me a nice afternoon before stepping out into the Stornoway air. Of the flight’s total load, I would say around half disembarked in Stornoway, and as far as I could see, no passengers joined the aircraft for its short hop down to Benbecula. From the aircraft, I walked straight into and through the terminal, commencing my short stay on the island.

Stornoway to Glasgow

Following a long circular walk that took me from the airport into Stornoway’s town centre before heading back towards the airport along the shoreline, needing to do some work and slowly beginning to burn, I decided to head back to the airport. Whilst Stornoway Airport serves to be one of the busier Scottish island airports, it can hardly be described as a major hub for air transport. As per 2019/20 statistics, Stornoway Airport ranked at 35^th place in the list of the country’s busiest airports, whilst in 2019 131,441 passengers passed through the airport and there were a total of 9,444 aircraft movements. Unsurprisingly then, the airport’s terminal is rather small consisting of one single-storey building. However, as with many regional airports in the UK, Stornoway Airport can trace its roots back to the Second World War. Having opened in 1940, during the conflict the airport was home to a myriad of types including the Anson, Beaufort, Halifax, Hudson and Whitley, before this became a Forward Operations Base during the Cold War. In 1998, the last remaining military units vacated the site and since then many of the buildings associated with the airfield’s former role have been demolished. Nevertheless, the airport site remains rather large and standing at 7,595 feet (2,315 metres), Stornoway Airport’s Runway 18/36 is the eighth longest in Scotland, beating the international hub that is the much busier Aberdeen Airport.

After traversing the airport’s long driveway, I arrived at the small terminal building. Rather interestingly, I spotted what appeared to be a prisoner transport van in the car park which led me to suspect that a somewhat unusual passenger would be on the flight down to Glasgow. Although perhaps well hidden, I did not see any obvious signs of them during the flight.

Upon entering the terminal, given my early arrival time, I confirmed with one of the members of the airport’s small team of very friendly staff that I was permitted to wait inside the terminal. Fortunately, this was granted and after a squirt of hand sanitiser, I entered the terminal. From the outside, Stornoway Airport’s terminal is unlikely to win any architectural awards. However, upon entering this I found the landside departures area – consisting of a small check-in hall with four Loganair desks, to be clean, modern and compact. For aviation enthusiasts and historians alike, this also features several artefacts relating to the airfield’s interesting and important historical military role. Aside from the multiple displays, other facilities include the Island Kitchen café – although this was closed meaning that the only facilities available for food and drink were vending machines and water dispensers.

For waiting passengers, complimentary wifi is offered throughout the terminal which I was pleased to find worked well, whilst a decent number of plug sockets could be seen dotted about. In addition, large windows are offered in the landside area that fills the terminal with natural light and offer a good view of the action outside (although this was non-existent until the arrival of the inbound Saab). For those wishing to keep up-to-date with the latest happenings around the world, a large television broadcasting BBC News was also present at the front of the landside waiting area.

As the clock edged towards the flight’s scheduled departure time of 1940, the terminal became a little busier as more and more Glasgow-bound passengers appeared ready to head off to the mainland. At 1845, an announcement was made inviting passengers to make their way to the security check area. This consists of a single checkpoint that was manned by the airport’s multipurpose staff. Whilst this team is perhaps unlikely to win any awards for the speed and efficiency of their checks, they proved to be some of the friendliest security staff members that I have ever encountered. Following a few minutes of waiting, I cleared the check and took a seat in the airside waiting room. This features plenty of seats, two vending machines and a television that was playing BBC1 as well as several toilets.

At around 1900, the inbound Saab 340B touched down on the Isle of Lewis at the end of its flight from Scotland’s largest city. This particular example was G-LGNC, a slightly younger Saab than the one I had sampled earlier that day having first flown in September 1992. This made it just under 29 years old at the time of my flight. Following the aircraft’s manufacture in Linköping, this example stayed close to its roots, flying with Stockholm-based regional carrier Golden Air and then Gotia Shuttle Express as SE-KXC. In 1994, the aircraft headed southwards to begin a new life in France where it flew for Régional as F-GMVZ before a stint flying for the airline’s Spanish subsidiary Regional Líneas Aéreas as EC-GMI. In 1997 the aircraft was returned to the French carrier as F-GTSF before heading up to Scotland in 2000 where it received its current registration. Since then, the aircraft has sported multiple colours – those of British Airways, Flybe’s old white and blue colours, Flybe’s purple colours and then its current Loganair scheme, however, despite these aesthetic changes, the aircraft has played an important role in serving Scotland for over two decades. Today the aircraft wears the name, Spirit of Islay, after the Inner Hebridean island and common destination for the aircraft. Based in Glasgow, in the week before my flight, the aircraft had operated an impressive 51 legs across Scotland, visiting Benbecula, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh, covering over 7,700 miles alongside training flights to Aberdeen, Inverness and Prestwick.

A few minutes after all passengers had disembarked from the inbound service at 1915, an announcement was made inviting all those bound for Glasgow to proceed to board. As with the first sector, being a keen enthusiast I ended up being one of the first to join the queue and soon had my boarding pass checked. Interestingly, this was not scanned, instead, the gate agent checked this before ticking my name off on their computer. After being wished a nice flight, I headed outside and was thanked by a member of the ground staff and pointed in the direction of the aircraft. Once again, I proceeded up the ramp and admired the engine before stepping onboard and being welcomed by another friendly flight attendant. As I turned right, as expected upon first inspection the cabin appeared identical to that of the Saab 340 I had flown earlier that day. However, once seated I noticed that this seemed to be in a slightly more worn state, featuring several marks and scratches visible as well as some minor dirt around my seat. However, on the plus side, I was pleased to find that 10A aligned well with the large window – interestingly this lacked a window shade although this was not needed. Meanwhile, it is also worth noting that the seats onboard Loganair’s Saabs do not recline, however, given the pre-existing comfort and space offered by the seat, and as a non-recliner, this did not bother me at all.

As with my earlier flight, passengers streamed onto the aircraft quickly and without fuss and the small Saab soon filled up, becoming full within a few short minutes. That afternoon, most onboard appeared to be locals and regulars, alongside a few tourists such as myself. Around five minutes after boarding had commenced, the last passenger made their way onto the aircraft at which point the Dutch-accented captain performed a long and detailed welcome announcement, concluding this with a word of thanks for flying with Loganair. After this came to an end, the flight attendant performed their welcome and safety announcement, again informing passengers that no service would be offered during the flight to Glasgow. Once this reached its end, the two General Electric engines noisily powered up into life as the flight attendant passed through the cabin ensuring all was in place for the flight’s departure.

At 1930, ten minutes before the flight’s scheduled departure time, ‘Logan 27 Victor Charlie’ lurched forward out of its stand, soon wheeling around to the left and heading out onto Taxiway Alpha. As the turboprop made its way along the shoreline, sitting on the left-hand side of the aircraft I was offered good views of the local coastguard helicopter base. At that time, a large Sikorsky S-92 could be seen having just arrived from its latest mission. With no traffic other than the Sikorsky, at 1933 the Saab turned left onto Runway 18 and made a noisy yet seemingly gentle rolling takeoff. After using up less than half of the runway, the Saab rotated upwards into the skies and good views of the local fields and villages could be seen before crossing the coastline seconds after taking to the skies.

Heading out over the sea, the Isle of Lewis soon slipped out of view as the aircraft climbed over the chilly blue waters that separate the island from the mainland. A short time later, Caledonian MacBrayne’s largest ship, the MV Loch Seaforth could be seen mid-voyage between Ullapool and Stornoway. Around ten minutes after leaving Stornoway, Wester Ross’ remote Rua Reidh Lighthouse appeared before the aircraft levelled off at its low cruising altitude of 11,000 feet. At this point, the seatbelt signs were switched off however I failed to spot any passenger standing up for the duration of the short flight.

Before the pandemic, Loganair were somewhat famous for their onboard catering offering which consisted of a drink and a typically Scottish snack of a Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer. However, as this has been halted, and with no inflight magazine in the seatback pocket, I had little to do during the flight bar look out the large window and savour the atmosphere of the Saab 340. Fortunately, with largely good weather that evening and a route that would take us over some of the most spectacular scenery in the UK, I had little to complain about! After passing the aforementioned lighthouse, the Saab 340 skirted along the coast for a minute or so, where the white houses of several remote Gairloch seaside villages could be seen. A short time later, the aircraft crossed the coastline and most signs of life were replaced by the Highlands’ captivating rocky mountain peaks, and the blue waters of the region’s famous lochs. Whilst much of the country was plunged in a mini-heatwave at the time of my flight, several banks of snow could be spotted on the tallest peaks passing beneath the aircraft.

After leaving the county of Ross and Cromarty, the aircraft headed over Inverness-shire and soon cruised over the town of Fort William. However, passing almost directly over the town centre, the only notable landmark I spotted was the large aluminium smelting works and the long pipes that deliver water to this. Whilst I had hoped to catch a glimpse of the UK’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis, unfortunately, a patch of clouds below prevented any views of this. Fortunately, these lingered over a relatively small area and within a couple of minutes, the picturesque scenery popped into view below the aircraft once again as we headed south over Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. At this point in the flight, the first and only bout of notable turbulence could be felt with some bouncing up and down, however, this came to a quick end and at no point were the seatbelt signs reilluminated.

Cruising southwards, I managed to make out Crianlarich between the mountains, a small village where I would find myself a couple of days later on my journey back to London by train. At this point in the flight, the aircraft could be felt gently commencing its shallow descent and the seatbelt signs were reilluminated. This was followed by an announcement from the flight attendant which featured the usual pre-arrival advice regarding seat belts and tray tables. Seeing as no passengers had arisen from their seats during the flight, the flight attendant was able to pass through the cabin and ensure that this was secure quickly and with little difficulty.

Outside, as the aircraft slowly edged towards Glasgow, the scenery below temporarily flattened and transformed into lush green fields. Soon enough, this rose once again into the hills of the Campsie Fells that sit to the northwest of Glasgow. As the Saab flew parallel to the peaks of these, the flaps were partially extended before the western suburbs of Scotland’s largest city appeared. Upon reaching Glasgow full flaps and the gear were extended and the aircraft sank towards the airport. As the aircraft neared the airport, some rather notable yawing could be felt which added a small level of excitement to the final stages of the flight.

As the aircraft made its way southwest towards Glasgow Airport’s Runway 23, we headed over Yoker – a place well known to Scottish television viewers, and the Clyde Boatyard before heading over the river and past the Renfrew Golf Club. After darting over the Black Cart Water, the Saab sank over the perimeter fence. Moments before touching down, I caught sight of an interesting visitor making its way out for departure, a Royal Navy Merlin HM.2 helicopter operated by RNAS Culdrose based 814 Naval Air Squadron. At 2016, a short and pleasant 43 minutes after leaving Stornoway, the Saab 340 touched down with a solid thump and the cabin was soon filled with the sound of the noisy reverse thrust.

Whilst Glasgow Airport’s 8743-foot-long runway posed no challenge for the Saab 340, the pilots appeared to be in no rush to exit this and so the aircraft braked rather gently before eventually vacating the runway after passing the terminal. In the usual manner, once the aircraft left the runway, the flight attendant welcomed all onboard to Glasgow and thanked all passengers once again for flying with Loganair. That evening, the taxi over to stand one proved to be rather quick and sitting on the left-hand side of this aircraft, I was offered a view of several stored British Airways Airbus A319 and Airbus A320 jets waiting to re-enter service during this journey.

Three minutes after touching down, the Saab swung right and cautiously pulled into the stand as a team of ground crew could be seen ready to get to work. Upon coming to a gentle halt, the engines were shut down and the cabin was plunged into silence. Requiring neither a ramp nor a jetbridge, the main cabin door was soon opened and disembarkation commenced quickly. That evening, passengers appeared not to be in any major hurry to exit the aircraft, and those onboard stood up, collected their bags and made their way to the front of the cabin row-by-row. Sitting near the rear of the aircraft, I ended up being one of the last to disembark, and, after thanking the flight attendant, I headed down the aircraft’s steep built-in steps and stepped foot on Glaswegian soil – this being my first visit to the airport since August 2007!

From the aircraft, I headed into the terminal and followed signs through the airside area for arrivals before soon heading down to the baggage hall and out into the landside portion of the terminal where I arrived a total of four minutes after disembarking the Saab. From there, I made the short walk in the warm summer evening air to the local Travelodge where I would spend the night before heading on to Tiree on a Twin Otter the following morning.

Summary

That day, my experience with Loganair left me with very little to complain about. Whilst the two Saab 340s that I had sampled were some of the oldest airliners in commercial passenger service in the UK, the interiors of these were both modern and comfortable. Despite the limited service, I found both flight attendants, as well as all HIAL and Loganair ground staff, to be incredibly friendly, polite and welcoming. Thus, I would have absolutely no qualms with flying aboard a Loganair Saab 340 in the future, nor would I hesitate to fly from Inverness or Stornoway again.