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COURIER OPINION Dundee Heathrow flights open up world of opportunity for city

The first direct flights to London Heathrow from Dundee will be a boon for international travellers - and a confidence boost for the city airport.

Dundee Airport exterior.
Two Loganair flights Heathrow leave Dundee every weekday. Image: Kim Cessford/DC Thomson.

Dundee Airport has long had a credibility problem with the travelling public.

The establishment of a link to Schiphol in Amsterdam – one of the world’s busiest air hubs – some years ago started to change what were long-standing and often negative perceptions. But the cancellation of the route just months later again knocked confidence.

While scheduled flights to Belfast and London City have proved popular among the business community and regular travellers, the cost and the limited onward options those destinations offered meant the airport’s wider potential remained untapped.

plane landing at Dundee airport
A Loganair flight from London landing at Dundee airport. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson.

A new deal will see the London City link replaced next month with a new flight direct from Dundee to Heathrow.

That offers up the prospect of international travel from the banks of the Tay once again and will hopefully help to silence the doubters who continue to talk Dundee Airport down.

Dundee Heathrow route opens up world of opportunities

The Riverside airport is clearly not – and never will be given both funding and logistical restraints – an international hub.

Jonathan Hinkles, chief executive of Loganair, in front of one of the company's aircraft
Jonathan Hinkles, chief executive of Loganair, which is behind the new Dundee-Heathrow route. Image: Loganair.

But as a regional airport, it has a positive role to play in building the local economy and selling the region to the world.

The switch to Heathrow from London City may not prove universally popular – especially among business travellers used to getting into central London quickly. But it does open up a world of new opportunities.

That is something which needs to be taken full advantage of if Dundee is ever to prove the naysayers wrong and find its rightful place on the global aviation map.

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