Clasair has acquired an Embraer Bandeirante, which joins a Piper Chieftain at its base at Glasgow Prestwick Airport. The aircraft will mainly be used for scheduled services, whereas the Chieftain is dedicated to ad hoc passenger and freight charter.

The EMB110 was originally designed to seat 19 passengers but Clasair’s has been redesigned to seat 15. “As people have developed in the Western world, weights have gone up so they’re now limited to 15 seats,” said flight operations manager David Hunter. “This obviously gives it quite a comfortable cabin, with a lot more leg room. I think it will prove to be a popular service.”

Clasair’s intention for the Bandeirante is to offer scheduled services that present an affordable entry into short notice business flights. “Although we’re not as cheap as mainstream airlines if you book four months in advance, when you need to fly at short notice, then we’re cheaper.” The company will be offering flights at £129 return for the scheduled service to Stornoway, beginning December 6. From December 14, the EMB110 will fly twice daily into and out of Derry, Northern Ireland, going in first thing in the morning and returning last thing at night.

Hunter believes that the mainstream airline carriers in Scotland have become increasingly self-serving, with little regard for the needs of customers – both existing and potential – who have no alternative but to use the carriers’ services. “The services are not conducive to doing business on the island,” he said.

“We‘ve been pushing with the CAA for the implementation of discreet approaches, which will hopefully come to fruition, where we will actually be allowed to fly into the likes of Tiree and Campbeltown, because up until now it’s been a monopoly for Loganair.

“I think there are ways and means to encourage people to use business aviation as a complement to the budget carriers in this country and, naturally, the more people who use the service, the cheaper it can become.”

Hunter believes that the industry, and the aviation community in general, can do more to widen the availability of air travel. “A lot of things in aviation in this country are not based on cost; they’re based on what the market will stand for. Business aviation in this country could go a lot further if operators charged the economic rate as opposed to what they think they can get away with.

“There don’t seem to be many businesses that actively go out and seek new business – a lot of them are sitting happily making a nice little earner,” he added. “They’d prefer to milk a few for a lot, rather than go out and make less profit per head off of a greater number of clients, and make more overall from a broader customer base.”