SCOTTISH airline Loganair has grounded half its staff as it further cancels services and seeks to claim a government bail out, it has emerged.

The 'lifeline services' Scottish airline said it has advised its staff of the "probability" of furlough under the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The Scottish airline, which gets subsidies from the Scottish Government for some remote routes, has now been confirmed that 22 of its 44 staff are now "in storage", as further cuts are made.

In mid-March Loganair said that by the end of the month, Loganair was to cut operations from around 214 to 95 scheduled flights each weekday - a cut of 55%.

Now it has emerged that number has been cut further to just 28  a day - meaning it is running just 13% of normal services.

Loganair, which also delivers mail and goods, including pharmaceutical products, to island airports previously said forward bookings had slumped dramatically from normal levesl.

The further cut being made to services, leaves it with a skeleton schedule of essential air services to operate within Scotland, to and from the Isle of Man and on two routes supporting critical workers in the offshore industry at Aberdeen.

READ MORE: Coronavirus -  Scottish 'lifeline services' airline will seek government bailout

It is not clear yet, what the extent of the further cuts will mean in terms of total flights.

But the airline says there will be a minimum of six weekly flights (daily except Saturday) on Aberdeen-Kirkwall, Aberdeen-Manchester, Aberdeen-Norwich, Aberdeen-Sumburgh, Glasgow-Barra, Glasgow-Benbecula, Glasgow-Campbeltown, Glasgow-Islay, Glasgow-Stornoway, Glasgow-Tiree, Isle of Man-Liverpool, Isle of Man-Manchester, Kirkwall-Sumburgh, Orkney inter-isles air services and Stornoway-Benbecula All other Loganair routes and services are suspended from 30 March until at least 20 April. Some will already have been closed for booking.

The Herald:

At present, services are planned to resume on a selection of key routes April 20 and on others from May 31 but the airline said these dates will be subject to "further review" depending on the prevailing national circumstances and consequent demand for travel.

"The services provided in the meantime will be to facilitate travel only for those with an essential need, such as workers in designated critical professions and others covered by the latest Government advice. We have worked closely with the Scottish Government to determine those services which will remain in place," said the airline.

The airline said customers booked on routes which have been suspended or cancelled will be entitled to a refund of their ticket.

Loganair said efforts were also in hand to protect essential carriage of pharmaceuticals, mail, newspapers and other consumer goods which are reliant on Loganair’s services in the Highlands and Islands as a matter of course.

Loganair’s chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said: “I’m proud of the work that so many of our team are doing right now to keep vital air routes open, without which our communities would be in severe difficulty. The tremendous team spirit in evidence throughout Loganair is providing all of us with confidence to tackle the challenges that undoubtedly lay ahead.”

“Throughout all of this, safety will remain our absolute priority – whether that of our staff or our customers, or indeed the daily focus to assure that each and every Loganair flight is conducted safely.”