financial constrictions facing Flybe may be the primary cause forcing it to sell its landing and take-off slots at Gatwick Airport but other reasons should not be ignored ("Fears for air link to the Highlands", The Herald, May 24).
Slots at Gatwick, Stansted and Heathrow are valuable commodities, not only for the airlines who own them but for the airport owners, who can earn much larger fees from European and inter-continental flights, whether they are end-destination or interlining flights taking into consideration such factors as size and weight of aircraft and passenger numbers.
While it is most unlikely flights operated by British Airways, within Britain, will be challenged, it would not be a surprise to learn that other regional services into airports in the south-east are "spoken to", to make way for more lucrative services.
I am not suggesting the protestations of the political and business fraternities in the Highlands will be in vain, but perhaps the efforts should be directed into preparing a strategy for services from Scotland's airports.
Mike Dooley,
52 Auchendoon Crescent, Ayr.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article