Cornwall-based airline Skybus is celebrating more than 30 years of flying from Exeter Airport to the Isles of Scilly as its 2023 season takes off.

The airline has been flying from Exeter to Scilly since May 1991 and the first flight of 2023 took off from Exeter this week.

Skybus, owned and operated by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, will be operating up to three flights a day, six days a week through to mid-October. 

The islands are among 26 destinations on offer from Exeter Airport this year.

Stephen Wiltshire, managing director of Exeter Airport, said: “In addition to regular flights to Spain, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey this summer we’ve got a new service to Faro on the Portuguese Algarve with Ryanair, flights to Belfast and Dublin up to seven times a week, and onward connections to the USA and Canada via Dublin with Aer Lingus.”

Stuart Reid, chief executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, said: “Exeter to Scilly is always a popular route, especially with holiday-makers travelling from up country and the South East because it makes the islands so accessible.”

Since the route started in 1991 Skybus has flown 227,284 passengers from Exeter Airport to the Isles of Scilly, on 20,657 flights.

Flights can be booked through www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk/book