A remote island community is losing its weekly air service for the next few months because there has been too much rain.
The runway on the Shetland island of Papa Stour is made of mortar with a high clay content and when Shetland Islands Council inspected it earlier this month, parts were waterlogged by persistent rain, meaning it could not be used.
The return flight every Tuesday to Tingwall Airport, seven miles outside the Shetland capital of Lerwick, is unlikely to resume until well into April.
Jane Puckey , Papa Stour's community councillor said it would be a big loss, adding: "The community depends on it because it is a short flight and once you land at Tingwall it is only 10 minutes into town, which is brilliant for the likes of hospital or dental appointments. The ferry takes about 40 minutes then you have a good half-hour driving into Lerwick."
The council-operated ferry runs four days a week, but the council is financing an extra sailing on Saturday in light of Papa Stour being grounded.
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