The success of new scheduled air services and holiday charters are propelling Inverness Airport towards a record number of passengers in July.

The airport handled a record 16,088 passengers last week, including 5,170 passengers at the weekend. During its busiest week ever 2,510 passengers travelled on Saturday with a further 2,660 flying on Sunday on both scheduled services and charters to and from Majorca, Zurich and Verona.

This was the third weekend in a row that Inverness had handled record levels of passengers. A total of 4,900 passengers travelled on 9 and 10 July and 4,400 passengers on 2 and 3 July.

New scheduled services to Belfast and Bristol with easyJet, strong performance on London, UK regional and Scottish domestic flights and a busy programme of holiday charter flights are set to make July the airport’s busiest ever month.

The airport, the largest of 10 operated by HIAL, is on target to handle around 700,000 passengers in the current financial year compared to 565,000 in 2004/05.

More than 330 scheduled flights now operate every week between Inverness and destinations including London (Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton), Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Northern and Western Isles. These are operated by British Airways (BA CitiExpress and franchise partner Loganair), bmi, easyJet, Eastern Airways and Highland Airways.

HIAL’s aim is to pursue a long term development strategy at the airport which will deliver new air routes for the region that are sustainable and promote both inbound tourism and good business air links. This will include new services to UK regional centres and direct links into mainland Europe and will ensure that the airport continues to be a key economic driver for the region.

Inglis Lyon, HIAL’s Managing Director, said: “It is fantastic to see the growth at the airport, boosted by the hundreds of additional passengers who are travelling on our newest routes to Belfast and Bristol every day.

“A few years ago not many people would have considered that there would be tens of thousands of people flying between the Highlands and Belfast or Bristol or even Birmingham and Manchester. But as a result of our route development work with airlines in recent years this is what is happening and it is supporting inbound tourism and business links between important regional economies.

“This year Inverness will handle almost twice the amount of passengers it did five years ago. Many factors are playing their part in this, not least the strength of the local economy, people moving back into the region after decades of depopulation and the unique qualities the area offers to tourists from around the world.

“The result is an economic output from the airport of £120 million a year and almost 2,500 full time equivalent jobs supported by the air connectivity it provides.

“Our development plan for Inverness will, crucially, ensure that the airport fulfils its full potential as a business. It will enable us to generate additional revenue to reduce and ultimately eliminate the requirement for subsidy while ensuring the airport continues to develop as a key driver for the regional economy,” said Mr Lyon.

ENDS