29

I’ve enjoyed flying in smaller planes on scheduled flights in the past (e.g. Aurigny’s old Trislanders). Are there any other scheduled flights in Europe in small (sub-20-seat) planes that are still running? I know about the Westray to Papa Westray flight already but feel free to include it in a list.

1
  • 1
    There are flights from the west coast of ireland to the Aran islands : aerarannislands.ie
    – Neil
    Feb 13, 2018 at 8:38

6 Answers 6

46

I did a search of all intra-European flights for tomorrow (12 Feb 2018) and came up with the following:

  1. Hahn Air has a flight with a Cessna Citation (6 seats) scheduled between LUX and DUS
  2. Loganair has several flights, as previously noted, mostly from KOI, NRL, and PPW on Britain-Norman Islanders (8 seats), as well as a number of flights around Scotland on 19-seat Twin Otters
  3. Direct Flight has some Islanders with 9 seats flying out of LWK
  4. Hebridean Air Services flies some Islanders from COL, TRE, and OBN
  5. Isle of Scilly Skybus flies 16-seat Twin Otters from ISC to NQY and LEQ
  6. BA's Scandinavian subsidiary, Sun Air of Scandinavia, flies 18-seat Avro J-31's between BGO and BLL
  7. Aurigny flies 18-seat Dornier 228s between GCI and DNR
  8. Flybe flies 19-seat Avro J-41's between CWL and VLY
  9. Chalair flies Beechcraft Beech 1900D's with 19 seats around western France, mostly based out of BOD and NTE
  10. Norlandair flies 19-seat Twin Otters in Iceland
  11. AIS Airlines flies 19-seat Avro J-32's around Sweden, including ORB, GOT, and MMX
  12. Aero VIP flies Avro J-32's around the Madeira Islands
  13. Twin Jet flies Beechcraft Beech 1900D's with 19 seats around France based out of ORY, MRS, TLS, and LYS
  14. SUE Orenberg flies 20-seat Let 410's around Russia.

That's just for one day. It's certainly likely that a lot of small routes with small planes don't fly everyday so I'm probably missing some.

6
  • 18
    In case you're wondering, the Hahn Air flight takes 45 minutes and costs $362. The train between the same two destinations takes 3h 45m and costs $85.
    – JonathanReez
    Feb 12, 2018 at 6:35
  • 11
    How did you search for all flights and then select the ones with the fewest seats or smallest planes?
    – gerrit
    Feb 12, 2018 at 11:54
  • @JonathanReez I wasn't suggesting that was a good option, just that it's something one could do... :)
    – cbw
    Feb 12, 2018 at 14:17
  • 24
    @gerrit I work for an airline so I have access to some cool industry tools that let me do searches like that.
    – cbw
    Feb 12, 2018 at 14:19
  • 9
    Note that Hahn Air isn't a traditional Airline. Their primary business is some kind of reselling / ticketing solution. They only operate a couple of pro-forma scheduled flights to retain their legal status as an airline, which they require for their primary business model. Feb 12, 2018 at 15:57
9

OFD in Germany is offering regular flights (scheduled) between Emden and Borkum using a Cessna 172, with 2 pax max.

Flight schedule

The fleet

2
  • The website also mentions some larger planes, how can I tell they use the Cessna 172 rather than one of their larger planes?
    – gerrit
    Feb 12, 2018 at 14:41
  • 2
    It is possible to ask them directly. However, by personal experience I can confirm that in most cases (in my case 100%) the 172 is serving the Emden - Borkum route. I do however know of some (rare) cases that another plane served that route though. Feb 12, 2018 at 14:59
8

Wikipedia lists a few dozen European operators of Britten-Norman Islanders. Many of them are historical, but a few appear to currently fly scheduled routes with them:

1
6

Norwegian company Lufttransport have a scheduled route between Bodø Airport and Værøy Heliport using the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter (Værøy Airport has been closed since a Twin Otter fatally crashed). This helicopter has 15 seats. It's a bit heavier and longer than some small fixed-wing aircrafts, but certainly much narrower. Dimensions from Wikipedia:

Length: 16.66 m (54 ft 8 in)
Width: 2.26 m (10 ft 0 in)
Height: 4.98 m (16 ft 4 in)
Empty weight: 3,622 kg (7,985 lb)

For comparison, the Twin Otter DHC-6 Series 100 has:

Length: 15.77 m
Width: 19.8 m (wingspan)
Height: 5.9 m
Empty weight: 2,653 kg

The Britten-Norman BN-2A Islander is shorter, lower, and lighter yet, but as a fixed-wing aircraft, remains much wider than the AgustaWestland. For most definitions of "smaller", the Britten-Norman would win, but if you're looking for the most compact "plane", the AgustaWestland helicopter flying to Værøy wins.

3

In Portugal there is a company, Sevenair that only operates a small airplane, a 19 seats Dornier 228. It flies across all Portugal, North to South, connecting 5 cities, Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Cascais, Portimão.

2

According to their website, Finist'air has flights most days of the week between Brest and Ushant on a 9-seat Cessna Caravan.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.