Transport / Loganair keen to take anxiety out of lifeline air service
LOGANAIR chief executive Luke Farajallah has been reflecting on the improvements in performance the airline has made since he took on the top job.
Recalling a “turbulent” and at times “hostile” meeting of the Shetland external transport forum ten month ago, he said the airline has come a long way in bringing back stability and confidence to the service.
It comes as Natalie Bush, replacing the company’s outgoing chief operating officer Maurice Boyle, was introduced to the external transport forum.
Addressing Tuesday’s meeting, Farajallah said the company wanted to take anxiety out of the equation when flying with Loganair.
“We want to run an airline service that can be used confidently by the people who need it most,” he said.
“We said it at the beginning when I came in ten months ago; there are enough anxieties associated with ill health that adding another anxiety when you are flying with Loganair has to be taken out of the equation, and that is the matrix at which we want to be measured.
“We want to be part of transport solution in these islands.”
He added that the company had agreed “some fairly significant pay deals” with the various work groups to “stabalise our regional workforce”.
“We feel the people who fly for Loganair and work for Loganair should be able to adopt a regional lifestyle.
“We work hard to try and create a regional lifestyle proposition which is beyond the contracted pay relationship we have with everybody,” Farajallah said.
“We want to present people with an option to make sure that balance of their life reflects working for a regional airline.”
Operationally, Loganair said it had further improved its on time performance by almost 10 per cent over recent months.
The company said it also had taken inhouse the handling of disruptions to the services after numerous complaints about the previous agent.
“We feel any passenger disruption should be handled inhouse by our own staff and certainly, you never get the best service when you externalise disruptions. You rely on others,” the company said.
“It’s Loganair’s problem, and Loganair should deal with it.”
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