Loganair E-jet MAN-INV-MAN

Flight 1&4

LM592/595

Embraer 145 BMI 16A/12A

Manchester - Stornoway - Manchester

On this sunny Saturday I flew Loganair's E-jet, last year it was still on the SAAB 2000 or 340 while it's on an E-jet from BMI since their solo flights. Funny thing is that pilots and cabin are Loganair while the plane itself says BMI regional. The plane came on stand on time from Inverness, different boarding area as it's no longer Flybe operated by Loganair. Once everyone got out and the plane got cleaned the boarding started for an on-time departure back to the highlands. My seat on today's flight was 16A, good thing to know is to board the plane more or less as soon as possible as the embraer only has one row of overhead lockers which is on the CD side and not on the A side so space could be a little bit tight. Once on board I was greeted by the friendly Carolina all in a Tartan uniform. Took my seat straight away and put my bag under my seat to have it close throughout the flight. First impression when you enter the cabin isn't a good one as you can see the plane is old and not being taking care of. It still has the interior of BMI (they went bankrupt in 2012) they still have their seats and headrest covers, even the seat pockets have old BMI International sickness bags. As soon as the door was closed plane got pushed and started to taxi to the runway.

Shortly after take off the service started, on this short 50 minutes flight they offer soft or hot drinks and a salty or sweet snack as there's only one crew member this kind of service is more than OK. Throughout the flight she came around with a waste bag or trolley to pick up any trash items as she was busy the whole flight. A little while later (as it was a short flight) the descent started into Inverness airport with plenty of time to catch flight 2 and 3 up and down to Stornoway.

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Once I got back from Stornoway I had enough time to wait for my last leg back to Manchester on the same E145 I flew earlier that day. On the way back I got seat 14A which was just behind the emergency exit row and skipping row 13 which is being skipped on BMI. Greeted by a friendly female crew member and FO who was standing in the little galley. Once at my seat I noticed that I had a squeeky seat making noise with every move I made. But as there were only 2 seats left which weren't window seats I kept my original seat for the time being. Again an on time departure and a 50 minutes flight to sunny Manchester. After take off the service started and you could see BMI regional saved a lot of catering equipment from the previous companies. An old trolley from BMI, drawers from BMI Baby and cups from BMI international as in the end it's all BMI afterall :-). The flight attendant was very friendly and genuine with all pax, despite the 50 minutes flight she took the time to engage with all pax. I even got 2 cookies iso the usual one (probably because one of the last flights).

Overall I really liked flying on Loganair as a standalone airline, I only don't understand the whole thing with the Embraer yet. If this is fully owned by Loganair or still by BMI while the crew were wearing the Loganair uniform.. Would be nice to see it being repainted into the tartan instead of the usual blue which it still has now. I'm really looking forward to my next travels with them on the Dornier or the Islander to Barra.

#loganair #flying #embraer #scotland #uk #unitedkingdom