ROSSair Scotland
12th in a Series: A Fictional Regional Airline in Scotland
ROSSair Scotland Airlines is a Scottish regional airline headquartered in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, Scotland, a suburb of Glasgow. The airline’s primary base is located on the grounds of Glasgow Airport (GLA), directly south of the company’s corporate office. In addition to its Glasgow-GLA base, the carrier also has hubs Aberdeen Airport (ABZ) and Edinburgh Airport (EDI).
One of the largest regional airlines in the United Kingdom by passenger numbers and fleet size, ROSSair Scotland uses a mix of piston, turboprop and jet aircraft to conduct flights to 25 airports within Scotland and 8 other destinations within the rest of the United Kingdom. The carrier also offers international flights to destinations in Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway.
History
Startup
Glenn Ross (1917-1994) was a World War II Royal Air Force transport pilot who flew Douglas Dakotas carrying paratroopers to targets across Europe during that war. After WWII he worked for Britain’s flag carrier, British International Airlines (BIA) before starting his own airline, RossAir Pty Ltd, in 1964.
RossAir set up shop in a hangar at Glasgow-GLA and leased two Vickers Viscount aircraft and one Fokker F27 Friendship turboprop airliner to fly passenger, freight, medevac and mail services between Glasgow-GLA and various airfields around Scotland. RossAir soon acquired a reputation for reliability and safety.
In 1967 the company bought out its Fokker F27 and acquired three more, which were put on routes connecting Glasgow-GLA «» Dublin-DUB, Glasgow-GLA «» Manchester-MAN and Glasgow-GLA «» London-LGW. The same year RossAir started using Britten-Norman BN2 Islanders to fly to additional remote airports within Scotland. In 1968 RossAir also added de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters to the fleet, and the company retired its Viscounts in early 1970.
The 1970s were a period of growth for RossAir. The company expanded its base at Glasgow-GLA and in 1976 it opened a 2nd base at Edinburgh-EDI. RossAir also accepted a contract to provide air ambulance services to the outer islands of Scotland, assigning three Britten-Norman Islanders to the task.
Jamie Ross Takes Over
By the early 1980s Glenn Ross began to have some health issues that were keeping him away from the office more and more. His son, Jamie Ross (b 1939), a decorated British Royal Navy Sea Harrier fighter pilot who saw combat in the 1982 Falklands War, joined RossAir and took over as CEO of RossAir in 1985. Glenn Ross became Chairman of the company.
Glenn Ross passed away at age 77 in 1994 due to extended illness. A statue of him wearing his WWII RAF flight gear was erected in front of the company head office at Inchinnan in 1996.
Late 20th Century Fleet Management
Later in 1985, after 21 years of flying only prop aircraft RossAir finally entered the Jet Age by taking delivery of four secondhand Fokker F28 Friendship twinjets. RossAir was losing market share to competitors using more efficient and more profitable jet airliners on important routes such as Glasgow-GLA and Edinburgh-EDI «» London-LGW, Manchester-MAN, Dublin-DUB and Amsterdam-AMS. Some F28s were also introduced on new routes to Oslo-OSL.
In 1990 Jamie Ross decided to upgrade the company’s turboprop fleet by placing an order as launch customer of the British Aerospace Jetstream 41, to replace the company’s aging Fokker F27 Friendship turboprops. RossAir took delivery of the first Jetstream 41s in 1993 and placed them on the airline’s regional route network, where they served the company well over the next 20-plus years.
In 1989, RossAir took delivery of the new Fokker 100 regional jet and replaced the Fokker F28 Friendship jets on the airline’s major city to city routes. The Fokker 100 would go on to become the company’s flagship jet until 2023.
The airline also took delivery of a pair of a shortened version of the Fokker 100, the Fokker 70, which were used almost exclusively to fly to London’s new London/City-LCY airport near the Canary Wharf district - namely on the Glasgow-GLA «» London/City-LCY and Edinburgh-EDI «» London/City-LCY routes. The Fokker 70 was specially selected for these routes because the Fokker 100 was not certified to use London-LCY’s steep 5.5° approach, while the Fokker 70 was given such certification.
Later in the 1990s RossAir also leased Dornier 328s from 1993 and the Dornier 328JET twinjet airliners from 1999. The 328JET were used to connect to Glasgow-GLA «» Vágar-FAE and Edinburgh-EDI «» Vágar-FAE in the Faroe Islands, while the 328 turboprops were added to regional routes around Scotland. Jamie Ross soon came to dislike the Dorniers, however, and they were returned to the leasing firm in 2000, replaced by a set of leased Bombardier DHC-8s. Paris-ORY was also added to the route network that year, using the Fokker 100s.
2000 Livery Modernization and ATR Aircraft Switch
After taking over RossAir in 1985, Jamie Ross had been thinking about updating the airline’s cheatline based livery for years, but kept putting it off. The original livery, which was rather contemporary when it first debuted in 1964, hadn’t aged so well by the 1990s and started to look somewhat retro.
In 1997 Jamie’s daughter Moira Ross, who started out in 1993 flying the company’s BAe ATPs and was most recently working as a young first officer flying the company’s Fokker 70 and 100 aircraft, drew up a newer livery sketch featuring a striking Scottish tartan tail design, using the Ross Red Modern plaid pattern.
Although both Glenn, Jamie and Moira Ross were all members of Clan Ross in good standing, the airline was not owned by Clan Ross and therefore could not use the Ross Red Modern tartan. So Jamie commissioned a designer to create a different tartan that didn’t include the color green in it, and this tartan was registered as a corporate tartan in 1999.
In January 2000, RossAir began rolling out its Fokker 70 and 100 aircraft in the new “21st Century Livery,” followed by the remainder of the fleet. It also restyled its brand name from RossAir to ROSSair Scotland, to better emphasize the company’s ongoing Scottish roots.
In 2010, ROSSair Scotland took the decision to return its fleet of leased de Havilland DHC-8s and proceeded to replace them with European-made ATR 42 and ATR 72 aircraft leased from JetStream Aerospace.
Moira Ross Becomes 3rd CEO of ROSSair
By 2015 Jamie Ross was 76 years old but still in reasonably good health, but after 30 years as CEO of ROSSair Scotland, Mr Ross decided it was time to step down and retire. He took the mostly ceremonial title of Chairman, and handed the company over to his 43 year old daughter, Moira Ross.
Jamie Ross is still around at age 85, having belatedly taken up golf as a hobby in retirement. He still occasionally drops in to visit the company offices and hangars.
Moira brought plenty of real world experience to her new job as company CEO when she took over. Moira had already served 22 years with ROSSair as a pilot, having attained the rank of airline captain flying the carrier’s flagship Fokker 70s and 100s back in 2003. She also had the distinction of having flown as first officer on every type of aircraft ROSSair operated from 1993 to 2014. Moira began to work for her father more directly in the company’s front offices from 2010, and officially became the company Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2012.
Moira Ross started off by retiring the company’s remaining British Aerospace Jetstream 41s in 2016.
Next, having catered to the key petroleum industry market in Aberdeen for several years, ROSSair Scotland opened up its 3rd hub at Aberdeen-ABZ in 2017. Initially the company connected Aberdeen-ABZ «» London-LGW and Aberdeen-ABZ «» London-LCY, Aberdeen-ABZ «» Manchester-MAN, Aberdeen-ABZ «» Oslo-OSL and Aberdeen-ABZ «» Amsterdam-AMS as well as Aberdeen-ABZ «» Glasgow-GLA and Aberdeen-ABZ «» Edinburgh-EDI.
Demand soon pushed the carrier to widen its connectivity to Ireland and other cities in the UK as well as to Aberdeen-ABZ «» Kirkwall-KOI and Aberdeen-ABZ «» Sumburgh-LSI in Scotland’s northerly Orkney and Shetland Islands. In response to oil industry demand, direct flights connecting Denmark’s offshore oil center at Ebsjerg-EBJ «» Aberdeen-ABZ were added in 2018, with flights timed such that passengers arriving from Ebsjerg-EBJ could quickly connect to London-LGW and Manchester-MAN, as well as to Houston-IAH through a major US airline.
Recent Events
Moira Ross and her father Jamie, along with a couple of ranking ROSSair Scotland managers, visited the 2019 Paris Air Show. After considerable review and discussion, the group decided the time had come to streamline the company fleet and acquire new generation aircraft. Having visited the Aria Aircraft Company’s suite at the Paris show, Moira Ross decided to sign leasing agreements through the JetStream Aerospace leasing firm for several new Aria aircraft, including the Aria T42 Transonic, Aria T102 Transonic, Aria V42 VTOL and Aria V42qc Quick Change Combi aircraft.
ROSSair’s overall goal was to ultimately use only Aria and ATR aircraft by 2024, retiring of its entire Fokker fleet in favor of the newer T42 and T102 jets, while using the V42s would replace all of the company’s venerable Twin Otter and Islander prop aircraft.
During the Covid 19 Pandemic, ROSSair Scotland was instrumental in providing air ambulance services to airlift Covid patients from the Highlands and Islands regions of Scotland. The company also delivered critically needed food, medicine and supplies as well as doctors, nurses and public health officials around Scotland and beyond. For a time ROSSair Scotland had to drop air routes to London, Amsterdam and Paris, but these routes were all restored by early 2024.
ROSSair Scotland began taking delivery of its new Aria aircraft in late 2022, with the arrival of two Aria V12c VTOL Special Missions aircraft that were converted into air ambulances, to be assigned to the ROSSair Ambulance service.
Although initial production delays hampered ROSSair’s timelines, further deliveries of Aria T42 and T102 Transonic jets finally began to come in, helping to expedite the plan to retire ROSSair’s older Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 aircraft, while the Aria V42 VTOLs took over routes formerly operated by the company’s age-old Twin Otter and BN Islander fleet.
The last of the Fokker aircraft departed in October 2023, while the remaining de Havilland and Britten-Norman aircraft are scheduled to be retired in early 2025.
Aidan Ross (b 1997), son of current CEO Moira Ross and a great grandson of ROSSair Scotland’s founder Glenn Ross, joined ROSSair in 2019 as a pilot, as has become the family tradition. He originally flew Twin Otters on the various island-hopping routes around the Orkney and Shetland Islands. In 2022 he was selected to begin training on the Aria T42 and T102 aircraft, and in 2023 began serving as first officer on flights between Glasgow-GLA and other city destinations around the ROSSair route network.
The younger Mr Ross was appointed as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of ROSSair Scotland in early 2024. He currently splits his time between flying the T42 and T102 routes and working at the head office to plan out out the company’s future endeavors. Plans are afoot for him to become the the new CEO someday when Moira Ross steps down from that role.
Destinations
ROSSair Scotland offers flights to the following destinations. (All destinations listed are located within the UK except where otherwise noted.)
Aberdeen-ABZ - Base [Map Link]
Amsterdam-AMS
Barra-BRR
Belfast-BRR
Benbecula-BEB
Bergen-BGO, Norway
Bristol-BRS
Campbelltown-CAL
Coll-COL
Colonsay-CSA
Donegal-CFN, Ireland
Dublin-DUB, Ireland
Eday-EOI
Edinburgh-EDI - Base [Map Link]
Esbjerg-EBJ, Denmark
Fair Isle-FIE
Foula-FOA
Glasgow-GLA - HQ and Base [Map Link]
Inverness-INV
Isle Of Man-IOM
Islay-ILY
Kirkwall-KOI
Lerwick-LWK
London/City-LCY
Londonderry-LDY
Manchester-MAN
Newquay-NQY
North Connel-OBN
North Ronaldsay-NRL
Oslo-OSL, Norway
Papa Westray-PPW
Sanday-NDY
Shannon-SNN, Ireland
Stornoway-SYY
Stronsay-SOY
Sumburgh-LSI
Tiree-TRE
Vágar-FAE, Faroe Islands
Westray-WRY
Wick-WIC
Fleet
Current Fleet
ROSSair Scotland’s current fleet consists of the following aircraft.
† = JStream original aircraft
Aria T42 Transonic - 2023-Present †
Aria T102 Transonic - 2023-Present †
Aria V12 VTOL Combi - 2023-Present (Air Ambulance) †
Aria V42 VTOL - 2024-Present †
Aria V42qc VTOL QC Combi - 2024-Present †
ATR 42 - 2010-Present - Retiring 2025
ATR 72 - 2010-Present - Retiring 2025
Britten-Norman BN-2B Islander - 1967-Present - Retiring 2025 †
de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter - 1968-Present - Retiring 2025 †
Former Fleet
ROSSair Scotland previously operated the following aircraft.
† = JStream original aircraft
Bombardier DHC-8 Q200 - 2000-2010
Bombardier DHC-8 Q300 - 2000-2010
Bombardier DHC-8 Q400 - 2000-2010
British Aerospace Jetstream 41 - 1992-2016
Dornier 328 - 1993-2000
Dornier 328JET - 1999-2000
Fokker F27 Friendship - 1964-1995 †
Fokker F28 Fellowship - 1985-2005 †
Fokker 70 - 1994-2023
Fokker 100 - 1989-2023
Vickers Viscount - 1964-1970 †
=Nota Bene=
Once upon a time there was a real life Rossair charter company based in Australia, and also a Rossair Executive Air Charter based in South Africa. Both companies are defunct, and my version of ROSSair is unrelated to either of them.
ROSSair is, however, somewhat inspired by the real world Scottish carrier Loganair. I didn’t like Loganair’s specific tartan tail design, but I did like the concept of it. So I created a tartan of my design to use with ROSSair.
I used the name Ross simply because it is Scottish, and it was easy to create a proper brand identity around the ROSSair name. I liked ROSSair better than RossAir, but decided to use both versions in the storyline, to give the company a natural evolutionary progression.
None of the Ross family characters referenced in this article are based on any real life individuals. I started with old Glenn Ross and randomly generated his descendants as needed until I reached young Aidan Ross. I think they really do resemble each other.
Speaking of tartans… Tartans are awesome! And the Ross clan has tartans! However, the tartan I designed for ROSSair is not a Ross tartan.
In real life there are at least 4 different Ross tartans, including 3 “hunting” tartans. My favorite is the Ross Hunting Modern tartan, which is a deep green color and looks great on kilts - I even have a kilt of my own that uses Ross Hunting Modern - but it didn’t look as good on aircraft tails. There is a Ross Red Modern tartan, which looked better on the aircraft tails, but that tartan still didn’t quite pop for me. So in the end I created my own tartan pattern, and it popped out perfectly on the aircraft so I adopted it for this article. I named it the RossAir Modern Tartan.
As far as I know my fictional Rossair Modern Tartan is a unique design. I can definitely say that when I looked through the official Scottish clan registries I didn’t find a tartan that exactly matched it.One other thing about tartans… Did you know there are corporate tartan patterns that are officially registered with the Scottish government in real life? The real life Loganair has two such tartans listed, and JetBlue has a registered tartan called JetBlue, Minted. That tartan was gifted to them in May 2024 by Edinburgh International Airport, to celebrate JetBlue’s inaugural 2024 service to Edinburgh-EDI.
All of the aircraft listed in the current fleet part of this article are original illustrations of my own design, except for the ATR 42 and ATR 72. In addition to the fictional Aria Aircraft templates, I also drew up the de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter and Britten-Norman Islander templates from scratch.
All liveries depicted in this article were conceived and drawn by the Author.
Aria aircraft templates displayed in this article are fictional aircraft, whose original templates were drawn by the Author.
The following aircraft types feature all original, in-house aircraft templates created by the Author.
All other aircraft templates displayed in this article were licensed from Norebbo and augmented by the Author for display. Blank side view templates of these aircraft are available for purchase through ShopNorebbo.
Route Maps were created using Great Circle Map.