Scottish regional carrier Loganair has signed an interline agreement with US giant United Airlines. This means that the big US airline will take passengers onwards from UK hub airports to various destinations in the US, with check-in taken care of and protections in place in case of delay.

Loganair’s Commercial Director Kay Ryan said in a press release,

“We’re extremely pleased to once again enhance connectivity for our customers.  The addition of United Airlines to our “Better Connected” programme means residents in the Highlands and Islands can travel to North America and beyond, easier than ever before. With our destinations now available to book at united.com, it’s also great news for travellers from across the world who can now explore all that Loganair’s network has to offer.”

From the major Scottish airports of Glasgow and Edinburgh, United flies to Chicago, Washington and New York. However, passengers can also travel on Loganair as far as Dublin and Manchester to hop on a greater range of flights from there too.

Great news for Scotland

Scots in remote parts of the country are used to being somewhat isolated. While big airports like Glasgow and Edinburgh are relatively well served, getting that far can often mean an epic and disjointed itinerary. Now, they can check in with Loganair at their local airport and travel on one ticket, bags and all, to numerous destinations throughout North America.

United’s Managing Director Sales UK and Ireland Bob Schumacher added,

“This agreement will allow Loganair customers to transfer seamlessly with United flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh to our New York/Newark hub, and from Edinburgh to our hubs at Chicago O’Hare and Washington/Dulles, where they can connect to destinations across the Americas.”

While that’s going to sound awesome for Scots looking to head across the pond, we feel the interline will receive greater accolades from the thousands of US tourists who head to Scotland on a trip every year.

Outside of London, Scotland hosts the top attractions in the whole of the UK. Edinburgh is the most visited city aside from the English capital. And most of those visitors come not from Europe but from the US.

According to Visit Scotland, 14% of all visitors in 2018 were American, with visitor numbers coming close to half a million. More importantly, those visitors made up 20% of the tourist spend. They like to travel around too, with USA visitors topping the charts in terms of the number of regions visited during their trip.

Now, with US travelers able to check-in at home and travel seamlessly from there to the outer Hebrides, exploring Scotland just got a lot easier. Of course, while Loganair has an extensive Scottish network, that’s not the only place they fly. The airline also connects to major UK cities such as Manchester, Leeds and, from next year, to Newquay in the picturesque county of Cornwall.

Connected to every continent

For a small airline like Loganair, a tie up with a major US carrier like United might seem like a big deal. But you might be surprised to know that little airline that could has already sewn up some pretty impressive partnerships.

Among its partners are British Airways, KLM, Emirates, Qatar, Air France and Turkish Airlines. Between them, and now that United has been added, passengers from every continent on the globe can connect to Loganair and explore the best of Scotland on one single itinerary.