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Pupils making school run by plane

The children on Papa Westray in Orkney take the world's shortest scheduled air service to Westray to go to school.

05 November 2009 15:50 PM

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School pupils on a remote Orkney island are making the morning run to school every day - on a plane.

The children of Papa Westray get to board a Loganair flight to the neighbouring island of Westray.

The journey only takes a few minutes and is the world's shortest scheduled air service.

Usually the young passengers catch a ferry for the mile long journey, but at the moment the ferry is unavailable and Loganair stepped in to help.

The airline has changed their schedules to make sure the children get to school on time.

Pupil Leanne Cursiter, who makes the journey every day, said: “No one else will be doing it, so it's quite exciting because we're the only ones that'll ever do this probably. So it's pretty good."

Student Shane Hourston is also happy with the new way of getting to school, he said: "You barely get time to see what it's like because the journey only lasts for two minutes, so it's pretty short.

"We'll be the only ones in the whole of Britain doing this, so it's unique to go to school by plane everyday."

Willie McEwen, the acting Headteacher at Westray Junior High School, said: "It's been fun for the pupils to fly, and it's probably quite nice for them because the boat can be rough and uncomfortable sometimes. But it's for a limited period and we'll all be pleased when the regular boat service starts again in January."

Last updated: 05 November 2009, 20:18

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