The findings of a report published today (Tuesday 7 October) on the environmental impact of aviation in the Highlands and Island’s have been welcomed by the region’s principal airport operator.

The study was commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in response to the UK Department of Transport and HM Treasury consultation, "Aviation and the Environment: Using Economic Instruments".

That consultation - which considers the possibility of imposing environmental charges on air travel - will inform the UK government’s Aviation White Paper, due to be published by the end of this year.

HIE is calling for a balanced approach to the introduction of environmental charging and argues charges should be based on actual environmental cost, rather than being imposed at a flat rate. They also say any proposed charges should be route-specific and not left to airlines to recover from all passengers as they see fit.

Key findings from the research, carried out by international environmental consultancy Environmental Resources Management, included:

• The environmental impacts of all Highlands and Islands flights are an extremely small proportion of the impacts of all flights within the UK. The total climate change impact from passenger air traffic in the region represents just 0.17% of the UK total. Over 80% of the regional impacts relate to cross-border flights between Inverness and Luton, Gatwick and Manchester.

• The total annual climate change cost of passenger air traffic in the Highlands and Islands is £2.5 million, compared to £1.4 billion for the UK as a whole. In other words, it is less than one day’s worth of air traffic between London and the USA.

• On many routes, when flights are compared with the best alternative car and ferry journeys, the climate change impact per aircraft passenger is not substantially greater. On a number of routes within the Highlands and Islands the environmental impact is less than that caused by the equivalent car and ferry journey. For journeys with a long overland leg, such as Glasgow or Edinburgh to Stornoway, it is actually more environmentally friendly for an individual to fly rather than travel by car and ferry.

• The impacts of aviation on local air quality in the Highlands and Islands are ‘insignificant’. The existing air quality is very good and the number of flights combined with generally small, predominantly turboprop-based aircraft, produces very low emissions. In 2001, all the aircraft movements in the Highlands and Islands generated less than 1% of the nitrogen dioxide generated at Heathrow alone.

• Because all the region’s airports are located in sparsely populated areas, the noise pollution impact is also negligible. For example, at Inverness airport, there are no residents living within the 57-decibel contour normally used to identify the area in which people will be affected by aircraft noise.

Commenting after the launch of the report at Inverness Airport, HIAL said its 10 airports offer lifeline, business and leisure air links, which are vital to the communities and economy of the region.

HIAL's Managing Director, Bob Macleod, said: "Air services are of fundamental importance to the region’s businesses and people, especially as they provide fast access to the rest of Scotland, UK and beyond to some of the country’s remotest communities.

"This fact is already recognised by the government in the exemption of Airline Passenger Duty at our airports and we fully back HIE’s call for any future environmental tax on aviation to take into account the role and minimal environmental impact of aviation in the Highlands and Islands.

"Route development is a priority for us and regional airports need to be able to compete effectively to bring new air services to remoter areas like the Highlands and Islands," said Mr Macleod.

ENDS