New seaplane flights to take off

The company runs a variety of services

A seaplane company is to begin trials of a scheduled service connecting Bute, Arran and Inverary with Glasgow.

Loch Lomond Seaplanes, which operates out of Helensburgh, has been awarded a Tourism Innovation Development Award from Scottish Enterprise.

The journey from Argyll and the Firth of Clyde would take about 20 minutes.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was redrafting legislation to take account of the seaplane service, which would be the only one in the UK.

Owner and operator David West will conduct trials in Glasgow to test the feasibility of the service and noise levels.

The company's Cessna aircraft can carry up to five passengers and can touch down on water and land.

We could bring a service to parts of Scotland that currently do not have good transport links Joan Stewart General Manager

The firm said it hoped to upgrade to cater for nine passengers in the future.

Joan Stewart, general manager for Loch Lomond Seaplanes, said: "We are doing a trial run, just some technical trials. It is a feasibility study through the Civil Aviation Authority.

"If successful we would hope to run flights as of summer next year. At the moment we do excursions and charters around the west coast.

"We could bring a service to parts of Scotland that currently do not have good transport links which would be great for tourism and the local communities."

Declining use

The company runs a commercial service for tours, weddings and corporate use.

Amphibious aircraft were in common use in Scotland in years gone by, especially during WWII.

However, their use has declined and the CAA said it was redrafting legislation to take the new service into account.

A spokesman said: "We are in touch with Mr West and we are doing up the new legislation at the moment.

"There is no timetable at the moment for when the legislation will be ready but it would apply to all seaplanes.

"This is the only seaplane service and such a service is not common in Britain."