Hit the road, Ieuan

Travels arrangements for Wales’ deputy first minister will need to be revised following news that Highland Airways, who operate a north-south airline service have gone into administration.

The airline was awarded a three-year contract to run the north-south Wales route from May 2007 and received £800,000 a year funding from the Assembly government. Political opponents have dived in to repeat their earlier scepticism about how flights could ever have been viable whilst inferring that it was all a coalition concession from Labour – if not a personal perk for the member for Ynys Mon.

Some Plaid AMs have been known to have been deeply uncomfortable with the stark contradiction presented by the under-used shuttle service (known by staff as ‘Ieuan-Air’) and party pronouncements on carbon footprint reduction priorities. Whether the news will put them and their coalition buddies into more or less of a spin remains to be seen.