THE influx of no-frills carriers in Scotland is
putting off full-service airlines from going to the country, the Scottish
Passenger Agents Association has claimed.
Head of the airline committee Ken McNab said air links
out of Scotland were “abysmal”, with carriers reluctant to start services
because of the competition from budget airlines.
He said: “We appreciate any airline starting services
from Scotland, but the growth of no-frills carriers in the country is deterring
mainline airlines from moving here because they can’t get the yields. It’s up
to the agents to back them.”
McNab said the country needed a year-round service to
the US and more direct routes into mainland Europe.
Currently, Continental Airlines is the only scheduled
carrier to offer a US flight, from Glasgow.
SPAA council member Sandy MacPherson added
the infrastructure from Glasgow and Edinburgh city
centres also needed to be improved to persuade airlines to launch services.
Meanwhile, the SPAA is talking to Flybe, Aer Lingus and
KLM about their policy of putting their lowest fares on their own websites
rather than on the GDSs.