MP Angus MacNeil had been due to fly to Glasgow to catch a flight to London in order to take part in indicative votes on Brexit.

The MP however had claimed flight from Barra was cancelled on Monday because of the Joint Warrior exercise.

As the UK Defence Journal pointed out on Twitter, the NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen which are filed to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route) were filed in advance of the start of the exercise and in fact are viewable for at least a week ahead, meaning aviation and airline authorities would have been aware.

In addition, a flight from Barra would not operate above the the altitude specified in the flight restriction notice.

Essentially, even if the airline didn’t know about the notice, the flight could have still taken place.

An MoD spokesman said via e-mail:

“The nature of the delay to yesterday’s Loganair flight from Barra to Glasgow was not due to a military exercise. The altitude that the flight wished to transit was below the airspace restriction, therefore from a military point of view there was no reason why the Loganair flight could not have operated.”

After messaging Loganair I was told by managing director Jonathan Hinkles:

“The Joint Warrior military exercise results in closures at short notice of certain areas of airspace, including that route used by our Twin Otter aircraft to and from Barra.  

This can lead to unexpected flight delays or cancellations which are regrettable in terms of their impact on our customers, but unavoidable from the standpoint of safety and security, which are always our absolute priorities.”

So, it’s fairly clear that aviation authorities were aware of this. The claim attracted ridicule, in part due to earlier claims from the MP. Angus MacNeil had earlier been mocked in the House of Commons after he locked himself in the toilet during a key vote on the European Union.

Joint Warrior is a major bi-annual (spring and autumn) multi-national exercise which takes place in the Scottish Exercise Areas.

Planned and co-ordinated by Northwood staff it is facilitated through Faslane which is used as the Headquarters throughout the exercise.

Joint Warrior 191, will take place between the 30th March amd the 11th  of April 2019 and will involve more than 10,000 personnel, 40 warships and submarines and 59 aircraft from Alliance member nations and Australia.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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12 COMMENTS

  1. This must be a late April fools – Warships don’t protect Scottish waters – I’m sure I heard that claim from the SNP so it must be true!

  2. So the not so honerable MP Angus MacNeil has been caught telling porkies once again. He is not fit to be in public office.

  5. Interesting one. There was an afternoon flight, presumably an extra one because of the holidays and the morning one being fully booked – LM459 (not LM451). It was delayed by nearly 2 hours (reason unknown), getting into Glasgow at 16.32 instead of 14.45 which means MacNeil would likely have missed his booked connection to London if he’d taken the flight, or if able to get one, not able to get to the HoC before say 7.30pm to 8pm.

    https://www.airportia.com/flights/lm459/glasgow/eoligarry/2019-04-01/

    It was delayed not cancelled, but it’s quite possible the early announcement was that it would be cancelled. Since it’s a beach runway, the state of the tide, and perhaps calm weather could have changed that to the flight going ahead – up to the airport, ATC and the pilot to decide if safe.

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