Scottish islanders protest at Sunday flights

Dozens of Christians from several denominations held a protest at Stornoway airport on the Island of Lewis, as the first-ever commercial Sunday flight landed there yesterday. Loganair who own the 34-seater propeller plane, said they have introduced the service to the island in response to popular demand. Currently there is no bus service on the island, or ferries to and from the mainland on a Sunday. But churchgoers fear the introduction of flights to the island will spoil their traditional way of life, which includes strict observance of the Sabbath. Church leaders are urging local people to boycott the new service. Calum Maclean, from the island's Lord's Day Observance Society, said: "These Sunday flights are a breach of God's law and will have an adverse effect on the whole community life of this island as we know it. This is only the start." Lewis, with a population of 22,000, is the spiritual home of the Free Church of Scotland. The church, dubbed the Wee Free, only allows work of "necessity and mercy" on Sundays. Most people on Lewis either belong to the Free Church or other Presbyterian denominations. Almost all business and leisure venues, including sports centres and the mobile cinema are closed on Sunday. But now Loganair has begun flights between Lewis' main town of Stornoway and Edinburgh and Inverness, British Midland airline plans to start flying between Edinburgh and Stornoway seven days a week beginning on Monday.