INCOMING Abellio ScotRail managing director Alex Hynes puts not so much a brave face on his unenviable job as heading Scotland’s rail company, as rather gilding the lily (“ScotRail Alliance is firmly on the right track”, Agenda, The Herald, July 26).

New trains, passenger satisfaction surveys, Glasgow-Edinburgh electrification, more seats, smoother journeys, transforming a Victorian railway system … haven’t I been reading of this ever since Adam was a boy?

I welcome all that Mr Hynes mentions, but the other side of the coin is that we long-distance passengers outwith the central belt are condemned to using trains never designed for major journeys.

Mr Hynes promises us High Speed Trains on the premier routes Aberdeen/Inverness to Edinburgh/Glasgow. But he doesn’t mention that current plans for these trains involve reducing the current two toilets per coach to one, nor back-tracking on the original promises of “at least” 20 bike spaces per High Speed Train to just eight (Source: ScotRail presentation at Scottish Parliament, February 25, 2015) to just eight.

Current plans are for these eight spaces to be further reduced to six solely for end-to-end journeys, with just two for carrying bikes between intermediate stations. What this involves is the reduction of existing all-stations bike carriage from four bikes to two. This isn’t progress.

As part of its franchise proposal, Abellio ScotRail promises to introduce tourist trains on routes such as the West Highland lines. It turns out that these tourist trains are simply refurbished 158s.

To those not in the know, a 158 represents the lowest form of pond life in the Abellio ScotRail fleet, a two-coach train riddled with deficiencies of lack of legroom, luggage space, vibration, noise and “tombstone” seats. Refurbishing these risible trains to cater for tourist traffic is the rail equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig.

Mr Hynes’s vaunted “90 per cent passenger satisfaction” begs the obvious: what were the questions put that created “satisfaction” for nine out of 10 passengers?

Gordon Casely,

Westerton Cottage, Crathes, Kincardineshire.

FOR many years there have been calls for lower fares and a better service on short air routes within Scotland.

I am therefore somewhat mystified by the criticism my airline, Flybe, has attracted for offering just that, especially while customers have clearly been delighted with the lower fares we are offering.

Recent commentary on the viability and sustainability of critical Scottish air links has been fundamentally wrong. Flybe is Europe’s largest regional airline, with more routes connecting local communities than any other carrier, coupled with a long-term commitment to Scotland. And we are no newcomer – Flybe has been operating routes here for 20 years. Scotland accounts for more than 30 per cent of all our passengers.

Our new joint venture routes with Eastern Airways to Orkney, Shetland and Stornoway, which start on September 1, offer customers added choice and lower fares on essential lifeline routes. If you look at the air travel market serving these destinations, it’s primarily the high fares charged historically that have prevented people from travelling. We firmly believe that lower fares will stimulate business and leisure links, resulting in more people flying to and from these regions. That is why we and Eastern Airways are flying these routes, not as some have claimed, to utilise excess aircraft; indeed the aircraft that will operate these new routes are from the Eastern fleet ("FlyBe is looking for captive markets to exploit its excess capacity", The Herald, July 8).

And from the end of October, our new franchise with Eastern Airways will offer even more choice. There will be additional connections via Aberdeen with both airlines and also the ability to fly long-haul with our many international codeshare partners. So it is unrealistic for anyone to think that such a financial commitment would be only for the short term.

Flybe is far from “failing” as some commentators have suggested. With greater control over fleet capacity, our focus on profitable routes is beginning to show through in the financial performance – our results released on July 26 reported an 11.7 per cent increase in passenger revenue as well as an improved load factor and passenger yield.

I recently had the privilege of visiting Orkney, Shetland and Stornoway, where I spoke to people on the ground to understand their needs and address their questions and concerns. Flybe has significant experience of serving island communities with lifeline services and we fully understand how important having a choice of good quality and affordable air links are to such communities.

Thankfully, people are seeing through the tactics of those trying to restrict such access and maintain the unacceptably high fares that have been rightly criticised in the past. Flybe is here to stay and we look forward to welcoming all our new customers on board next month.

Christine Ourmières-Widener,

Flybe CEO,

Exeter International Airport, Clyst Honiton, Exeter.