HIAL Board to Meet in Shetland

The Board of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited will meet stakeholders in Shetland on Thursday (8 September 2005) evening to discuss the future development of Sumburgh Airport.

Guests at the event, being held in Lerwick before HIAL’s Board meeting on Friday, include Transport Minister Tavish Scott and representatives from the council, local enterprise company, visitscotland and the airport consultative committee.

Sumburgh Airport’s main instrument runway is currently being extended in a £10 million capital project funded by HIAL, Shetland Islands Council, the Scottish Executive and the European Regional Development Fund Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme 2000-2006.

The runway extension has been the key aim for the members of the Sumburgh Airport Strategic Partnership for more than two years. The partnership comprises HIAL, Shetland Islands Council, Shetland Enterprise, and the Sumburgh Airport Consultative Committee. The project is also one of the Highlands and Islands Strategic Transport Partnership’s (HITRANS) infrastructure priorities for the region.

The runway extension, due to become operational at the end of October 2006, will allow larger aircraft to use the airport and improve the performance of existing aircraft types by removing the need for weight restrictions.

SASP’s other priorities are future business growth at the airport and the development of Sumburgh as a tourism gateway for the islands.

HIAL’s chairman Sandy Matheson said: “The runway extension is progressing to programme and is an example of a major partnership project that will deliver economic and social benefits for the islands in the years ahead.

“It will allow larger aircraft to use the airport, existing aircraft to operate without weight restrictions and support our route development work which aims to deliver new and improved air services for Shetland. There will also be benefits for the oil industry’s fixed-wing and helicopter air transport logistics in the North Sea, West of Shetland and Faroese sectors as part of our business plan to develop new oil traffic at Sumburgh.”

Inglis Lyon, managing director of HIAL said: “We are keen to discuss a range of transport and commercial initiatives with our stakeholders in Shetland and are particularly pleased that Tavish Scott, the Minister responsible for HIAL who is also the local MSP, has been able to accept the invitation to join us in Lerwick. Effective transport links are vital to the island communities and we look forward to exploring many issues with our partners in Shetland on Thursday.”

Sumburgh is the second largest, by passenger volume, of HIAL’s 10 airports and in the year ending 31 March 2005 handled 116,090 passengers and 8,884 aircraft movements. The airport supports scheduled air services to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Kirkwall and Wick, and seasonal services to Fair Isle and Oslo. British Airways franchise partner Loganair operates all the scheduled air services apart from the link to Oslo which is operated by Norwegian regional airline Wideroe, a division of SAS.

Ends (05.09.05)

For further information please contact Nathaniel Anderson, HIAL PR Manager, on 01667 464277 or 07795 666115.

Notes to Editors:

Highlands and Islands Airports Limited manages and operates 10 airports in the North and West of Scotland. The airports range from the principal hubs at Inverness, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh to those at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Islay, Tiree and Wick.

HIAL was formed as a private limited company in 1986 as a subsidiary of the Civil Aviation Authority. Its ownership transferred to the Secretary of State for Scotland, now the Scottish Ministers, on 1 April 1995. The company is wholly owned by the Scottish Ministers and receives subsidies from the Scottish Executive in accordance with Section 34 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982.

The company is responsible for providing airport infrastructure, facilitating lifeline air links, developing air traffic in the region and supporting economic sustainability and social inclusion in Scotland’s remoter communities.

In the year ending 31 March 2005 HIAL’s 10 airports handled 1,016,000 passengers and more than 82,500 aircraft movements. Passenger numbers ranged from 6,000 at Tiree to 565,000 at Inverness.

For further information see the www.hial.co.uk website.