The number of passengers flying via the 10 airports operated by HIAL continued to grow during October.

Passenger numbers across the company’s airports increased by 8.8% on the previous year to a total of 84,791 for the month of October 2003, an extra 6,861 air travellers compared to the same month last year.

The running passenger total for the current year, starting on 1 April 2003, now stands at 586,937, up by more than 47,000 passengers on 2002-2003.

The largest year on year passenger growth was recorded at Inverness with 18.2% and Stornoway with 18.4%. Passenger numbers have also increased over the past seven months at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Kirkwall and Tiree.

Non-oil traffic at Sumburgh has dropped by 7% to 68,928 passengers for the seven months to end of October while oil-related traffic continued to reflect a downturn in offshore activity with a 52.1% drop in passengers to a total of 7,143 compared to the previous year running total of 14,915. Wick also recorded a small decrease in passengers, down 2.4% to a running total of 18,114 for the current operating year.

Total aircraft movements, including scheduled, charter, executive, general aviation and military flights have also grown across the 10 airports in the past seven months, up 7.5% to a running total of 50,492 for the current year.

Bob Macleod, Managing Director of HIAL, said: "In overall terms the latest passenger figures reflect the important role aviation plays across the region and the statistics indicate a good level of support for new and established air services, particularly at our hub airports.

"The decline in oil-related traffic at Sumburgh is a knock-on effect of the lower levels of activity in the offshore industry and this has also impacted on the scheduled passenger traffic at the airport, albeit to a lesser extent. However, we are continuing to promote the airport to the oil and gas industry to ensure it remains on their radar when they consider future logistical requirements," said Mr Macleod.

ENDS