Air Charter Scotland adds extra capacity to Aberdeen-Wick-Aberdeen PSO route

Air Charter Scotland has added 10 more seats daily (Monday to Friday and Sunday) on the Wick-Aberdeen-Wick Public Service Obligation route, with the start of Jetstream J32 services this week.  The J32 is now operating under a wet lease from AIS Airlines of the Netherlands is now departing Wick-Aberdeen at 0800hrs and Aberdeen-Wick at 0930 hrs Sunday to Friday.  Fares from £89.99 one way; £119.99 fully flex. 

This is a return to its roots for the 18-seat Jetstream J32 turboprop, originally built at Prestwick, Scotland, by British Aerospace.

Glasgow-based Air Charter Scotland, a leading on-demand charter operator has been contracted with The Highland Council to serve the route.  It started flying the service on January 15 with a Beechcraft King Air 200.  This lifeline route for the community of Caithness had paused for several months following Eastern Airways’ closure in October 2025. 

Reliability with the King Air has been very good with the operator having to make just a few cancellations because of high winds and heavy snow at Wick.  A King Air from FlyWales stepped in to cover a few days between 20th into 23rd February, again reinforcing the resilience of business aviation.  

Air Charter Scotland COO Derek Thomson commented: “Passengers have loved the King Air. Everyone in our team is most grateful to DragonFly Executive Aviation, which stepped up with the King Air, when at the 11th hour, Border Force rejected European/EASA pilots flying for us."

It has regularly been carrying upwards of five passengers back and forth to the Scottish mainland and with the start of Spring and increased demand, the J32 arrives at the right time.  The alternative to the just under an hour flight is a near five-hour car journey. (Rules relax from March 1 to October 30, reflecting a bigger need, primarily from UK low-cost carriers, for supplementary European jets and crew for the summer. Air Charter Scotland is meanwhile working to add the aircraft type to its own air operator’s certificate.