Airlines cut more flights from Scotland as Ryanair launches two-for-one seat offer

Emirates, KLM and Finnair reduce flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow as Ryanair admits 75 per cent slump in bookings

Ryanair has reduced flights to 40 per cent of normal. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

KLM, which operates connecting flights from Scotland to its worldwide hub in Amsterdam, has cut its Edinburgh and Glasgow services from four to two a day.

Information from the Routes air industry notification service also showed the Dutch airline is shrinking its Aberdeen operations from around four to three flights a day, and Inverness services from daily to five days a week.

Emirates has scrapped plans to resume its Edinburgh-Dubai route with daily flights from 1 December, Routes also reported.

KLM is cutting feeder flights between Scotland and its Amsterdam hub

The airline restarted Glasgow-Dubai flights in July but on only four days a week rather than a daily service as previously planned.

Finnair will cut its Edinburgh-Helsinki flights from five to one a week from 1 October, Routes reported.

However, the information service said United now tentatively plans to resume Edinburgh-New York flights from 1 November, which could see the return of daily services to Newark.

The airline’s daily Edinburgh-Chicago and Glasgow-New York services remain cancelled.

Emirates has shelved plans to resume Edinburgh-Dubai flights and its Airbus A380 superjumbos have yet to return to Glasgow flights. Picture: Mark Runnacles/PA Wire

Delta plans to resume its Edinburgh-New York JFK flights on 30 April, while its Boston services from the capital remain cancelled.

The changes came as Ryanair launched the first "buy one, get one free" offer in the airline's 35-year history as it attempts to boost flagging passenger numbers.

Customers who book a flight before midnight tonight for travel up to 14 December on some routes will get a second ticket at no extra charge.

This comes days after the airline announced it will further reduce its operations due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

Its capacity in October will be 40 per cent of 2019 levels, compared with the 50 per cent it previously announced.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said demand for future bookings is "terrible".

He told Sky News: "Into November and December, our forward bookings are running at around 10 per cent.

"That's about a quarter of where they would normally be at this time of the year.

"We can't rule out job losses but in Ryanair we're certainly desperately working with our people to prevent them."

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