It was a glorious time, the summer of 2016.
Forget the seemingly endless parade of celebrity deaths, forget Brexit, Trump and all the other indignities 2016 has foisted upon us, there were a few sun-kissed months of the year where Dundee Airport actually operated international flights.
Halcyon days, indeed.
Technically, you can still fly from Dundee to Amsterdam, it’s just that since October anyone wanting to do so has to endure a near two-hour bus ride to Edinburgh Airport first and then be prepared to make the reverse journey on their way home.
By that rationale, Dundee offers flights to every other airport in the world, so long as you’re willing to accept that travelling by plane, train or automobile can be classed as flying.
It emerged last week that airline FlyBe will continue their non-flights to Amsterdam from Dundee until the middle of January but have so far refused to say why this is necessary.
The lack of a concrete explanation has inevitably led to plenty of speculation. Some say there are too many small planes in the sky, others that it is too expensive for the company to taxi pilots to and from Dundee each day for the flight.
Whatever the reason, each bus journey is another death knell for the service.
There was huge excitement when the flights launched and people have, optimistically, been continuing to book flights on the service for next year.
But passengers will soon get fed up of the inconvenience of being bussed to Edinburgh, never mind that they will feel let down by an airline that cannot provide the flight they were booked on.
When that happens, bookings will drop and, as sure as night follows day, FlyBe will decide it is no longer worth operating the route at all.
Derrick Lang, manager of Dundee Airport, is optimistic that the flights can be saved and says the fact the route hasn’t already been scrapped shows FlyBe’s commitment to it.
Dundee West MP Chris Law is also in the glass half-full camp but it’s hard not to think we’ll soon be drowning our sorrows over the loss of the route rather than toasting its success.
