The company was established on 12 August 1937 by a group of investors including Whitehall Securities Corporation, LMS Railway and Western Isles Airways.

Highland Airways was run by its founder, Ted Fresson and was based in Inverness, specialising in services to the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland.

Likewise, N&SA was run by its founder, George Nichols, but was based at Renfrew Airport, Glasgow, specialising in serving the Western Isles.

[7] On 3 May 1938 N&SA opened a new route, flown by chief pilot David Barclay in their new Dragon Rapide G-AFEY, from Renfrew Airport via Perth, Inverness and Kirkwall (Orkney) to Sumburgh (Shetland).

[9] Other areas of activity were to improve navigation, air traffic control and radio aids, weather reporting, pilot training and certification, and airport facilities.

Leaving Kirkwall at 6:25am, the flight would connect with North Eastern Airways at Perth, flying in their Airspeed Envoys to Edinburgh, Newcastle and London (Croydon).

The NAC directed all civil operations as required, both to maintain essential services and to assist the army in carrying freight, especially blood supplies, particularly to France.

Camouflage was applied to many NAC aircraft, and registrations were underlined with red, white and blue stripes, with RAF-style fin flashes and roundels on the wings.

Scottish Airways was initially permitted to fly three routes: Renfrew — Rothesay — Cock-of-Arran — Campbeltown — Bowmore, Inverness — Lybster, and Wick — Kirkwall; the latter two could be modified at the wishes of RAF Coastal Command.

[16] On 3 September 1939 inter-island services were suspended, resumed in November and finished again on 27 April 1940, and the island airfields were blocked by stone cairns.

[11] In the Orkneys, Ted Fresson was left with one Rapide, G-ADAJ, for doing much-needed charter flights, but soon the need for a regular service was recognised, and Scottish Airways restarted an Inverness — Kirkwall — Sumburgh route.

During and after the war the AAJC provided further aircraft, De Havilland Dominies, which were military versions of the Dragon Rapide, with improved engines.

Before the war, Ted Fresson had tried tirelessly to get an airfield built at Stornoway, the largest town in the Hebrides, on the island of Lewis and Harris.

Finally he convinced the council, and the airfield was completed in August 1939 at Melbost, just outside the town, on a golf course where Fresson had landed several times on air ambulance missions.

The outbreak of war had prevented its use, but the NAC granted permission, and the Southern Division of Scottish Airways extended its Hebrides route there in May 1940.

Eventually, after RAF Coastal Command had laid runways there, the Northern Division was also given permission, and direct flights from Inverness started on 24 May 1944.

Routes in early or mid 1945 (precise date not stated)[25] Operated on behalf of Western Isles Airways Ltd. After the end of World War II, in the short term little change occurred.

[28] On 22 August 1946 Ted Fresson came to Hatston in Douglas DC-3 G-AGZA on loan from RAS which made some trial landings and gave a demonstration flight to some local people.

[31] While they were rugged and comfortable (new specially designed seats had been fitted by Shorts during their conversion to civil use), they had been poorly built during the war and engine fumes would leak into the cockpit.

[32] Also, spares, particularly tyres and exhaust parts were difficult to source, and starting the engines required ground power units which were not available at most of the airfields used by the airline.

On hearing about this, Fresson's senior management gave him a severe reprimand for not seeking prior permission, and within a fortnight he was made redundant, leaving on 31 March.

The only compensation he received for the nationalisation of his airline was the gift of the De Havilland Gipsy Moth G-AAWO, which he had brought to the organisation in the first place.