The airline which became known for providing services to Scotland's remote island communities, will again be operating flights in its own right next year.

After 24 years of operating under franchise agreements with other airlines, the Glasgow-based Loganair will fly under its own flag from next September, and continue to style itself as Scotland’s Airline.

It has been operating under the Flybe brand, but that company has ended the arrangement because of a failure to agree “future operational standards and commercial arrangements”.

But Loganair says it will continue to provide over 1,000 flights each week across 46 routes, "offering unrivalled connectivity for Scotland and with operations stretching as far afield as London, Norwich, Manchester, Dublin, and Bergen in Norway. "

It has almost 300 flights each week to and from Glasgow, and is the largest operator at key airports throughout the Highlands & Islands including Inverness, Sumburgh, Kirkwall and Stornoway.

Its network also includes the world-famous “times subject to tide” operations to the beach airport at Barra and the world’s shortest scheduled flight, linking the Orkney islands of Westray and Papa Westray with daily flights taking only two minutes.

It had operated its services under franchise agreements with British Airways, from 1993 to 2007, and latterly with Flybe from 2007.

Loganair stresses its long-standing 'codeshare' arrangement with British Airways will also continue, enabling customers to make a single booking for a journey from points throughout the Highlands and Islands to London and onwards to British Airways’ worldwide network.

Employing over 600 people, it operates a fleet of 28 aircraft and alongside its scheduled services, undertakes an extensive range of contract services for Royal Mail and oil and gas companies.

Peter Simpson, Chief Executive of Airline Investments Ltd, Loganair’s parent company, said: “Today’s announcement is a major milestone in the 54-year history of Loganair.

“Although Loganair has flown as a franchise carrier for larger airlines over the last 24 years, there is still a huge level of recognition and affinity for the Loganair name throughout Scotland and beyond. We believe the time is right for Scotland’s Airline to now spread its wings once again, and are delighted to be introducing a bold new corporate identity to accompany this important move.”

Loganair began in 1962 as the air taxi service of the Logan Construction Company Ltd, operating a single Piper Aztec from Edinburgh. But there was a clear demand for scheduled services and its network expanded to take in more remote islands and communities.

In 1967 Loganair mounted an inter-island scheduled network in Orkney and a similar network in Shetland commenced in 1970.