An additional 2,200 seats will be available on services between Inverness, Birmingham and Manchester as Eastern Airways introduces larger aircraft to meet increased demand.

From Monday (6 March) capacity will be increased by 37% on the Inverness - Birmingham route with a larger 29 seat Jetstream 41 aircraft operating all its services between the Highlands and the Midlands.  The Manchester service will also become an all Jetstream 41 route from Monday until the end of the month.

The regional airline’s largest and fastest “flagship” aircraft will be introduced to the Inverness - Manchester route from 26 March and will also operate Sunday services from Inverness to Birmingham from the same date.

The airline, which is reaffirming its commitment to Inverness Airport has operated services to Manchester since November 2002 and launched Birmingham services in November 2003.

Graeme Ross, Eastern Airways’ Scotland director, said: “We are increasing seat capacity on cross border routes to England’s two largest cities outside London to meet growing demand.  This decision to operate larger aircraft on these two important routes demonstrates our commitment to growing traffic to and from Inverness and the Highlands.”

Highlands and Islands Airports’ managing director, Inglis Lyon, said: “We are pleased that Eastern Airways is showing a major commitment to the airport by basing larger aircraft here.  We have grown the number of cities served from Inverness during the last year and it’s very satisfying to see significant additional capacity being introduced for the vital air links to Birmingham and Manchester.  I’m sure this will be welcomed by the business community.”

Web fares on both Inverness routes starting from £99 return, including all taxes and charges.