Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron is to question the Scottish Government about the loss of Islay’s scheduled air service to Edinburgh. Mr Cameron has pledged to act after Loganair took the decision to cut the route less than six months after inaugurating the service.

The Scottish Conservative MSP said: “I share the immense disappointment of people in Islay when they discovered that Loganair was going to axe the Edinburgh service.

“There was no consultation with the local community, and the sudden announcement took everyone by surprise especially since the service has only recently been launched.

“This is no way to treat an island community which is completely dependent on its air and ferry services, and I fully intend taking this up with the Scottish Government to find out when they were first made aware of this and what they intend to do about it."

Councillor Alastair Redman (Kintyre and the Islands ward), an Islay resident himself, added: “We cannot hope to develop Islay’s economy if critical decisions about our transport infrastructure are taken on such a short-term basis.

“We need to attract further investment to build on the great work being done by Islay’s whisky and tourism sectors and I fear that this very disappointing announcement is going to make that task more difficult.”