Bryan James Sutherland MBE (born 1950) is a British former engineer. For fifty years, he was in charge of operating the world's shortest scheduled airline flight,

Loganair Loganair is a Scottish regional airline headquartered at Glasgow Airport in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The airline primarily operates domestic flights within the United Kingdom. It is the largest regional airline in Scotland by passenger ...

's two-minute-long Westray-to-Papa Westray route in

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

, Scotland. He is the airline's longest-serving employee, having worked for Loganair between 1967 and his 2017 retirement.

Career

Sutherland joined Loganair on 17 July 1967, five years after the airline's formation. Beginning in

Kirkwall Kirkwall (, , or ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub wi ...

, he spent a few years in Glasgow before returning to Orkney. He was then asked to set up the airline's base in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

in 1975. He returned to Orkney permanently in 1978. He planned to retire at the age of 65, but stayed on for two more years to achieve the fifty-year milestone.

Personal life

Sutherland is married to Dorothy, with whom he has two daughters. He was awarded an MBE in the Queen's

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

. His nomination was submitted by Liam McArthur,

member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

for the Orkney Islands.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Bryan Living people 1950 births Scottish engineers People from Kirkwall Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire