MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands air link Defence contractor back on profit course

Scotland's biggest airline Flyglobespan, which has contract for the Falklands/UK air link is back on profit course after a successful 2008 which included the restructuring of destinations and limiting operations to services it could provide with its won planes.

Quoting Tom Dalrymple, owner and chairman of the company, according to a piece in Sunday's edition of Scotland's The Herald, Flyglobespan to October 2008 made a trading profit of £ 1.2 million, while the precedent year the pre-tax loss was £ 19.3 million. Besides flying to the MPA in the Falkland Islands from RAF Brize Norton, Flyglobespan has a second Defence contract to Qatar. The renewed success came after the company decided to focus on destinations in Europe after running into problems in the transatlantic market in the previous year. The company pinned the blame for the first loss in its 35-year history largely on problems with aircraft leased from Icelandair for flights to North America. It subsequently stopped operating flights using Icelandair planes and limited its operations to services it could provide with its own planes. In September, chief executive Rick Green said Flyglobespan had been required to refocus on its short-haul European flights, cut back on transatlantic routes and work to ensure that it had the highest loads. "We learned quickly from those experiences. Last year we flew only our own aircraft and the difference has been hugely satisfying - with record load factors for our sector. "We are back into profit and, had the fuel rises not been so steep, that profit would have been considerably more. But, considering the difficulties of the sector, I have no complaints." Dalrymple noted that Flyglobespan was free of debt. In addition to having cash reserves, the company has a significant property portfolio. Green said: "Looking forward, our sales and revenues are on plan. Our core routes for 2009 are holding their popularity." Flyglobespan axed routes from Glasgow to Boston and from Liverpool to New York that it had flown using Icelandair planes. However, the company still flies to North America. Last month it announced plans to start a service linking Glasgow with Halifax in Canada from May, concludes the article in The Herald.