Inverness Airport is preparing for its busiest ever summer with 350 scheduled flights a week set to operate from the Highland capital’s air gateway from today (Monday 26th March).
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited expects the largest of its 10 airports to play a major role in delivering a boots to Highland tourism in the coming months.
The airport now offers air travellers more choice of destinations and airlines than ever before and will record its busiest ever operating year at the end of this month. Last year Inverness handled 666,000 passengers and it should break the 700,000 mark by 31st March.
Airlines operating at Inverness now include Aer Arann, British Airways/Loganair, bmi, Eastern Airways, easyJet, Flybe, Highland Airways and Ryanair. Destinations served are Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Benbecula, Stornoway, Kirkwall, Sumburgh plus holiday charter flights.
With a number of new routes introduced in the past year – including Ryanair’s Liverpool and Nottingham services and Eastern Airways’ Leeds and Southampton flights – plus major events in the region as part of Highland 2007, this year is expected to be the airport’s busiest ever.
Flybe has now also taken over the operation of the former BA Connect Gatwick service and is expected to stimulate traffic on this major route through competitive fares and extensive marketing. Flybe introduced a Belfast City service from Inverness in December which now operates daily.
Inverness Airport manager James Walton said: “Inverness is now better connected by air than ever before and this can only be good for the tourism sector as well as the local population and business community.
“With Highland 2007 there has never been a better time to visit the region and we expect a busy summer ahead on our well established and newer routes that we’ve worked with airlines to bring on stream in the past year.
“In real terms we have doubled the airport’s passengers since 1999 with seven years of consecutive growth. This has both contributed to and reflects the increasing economic confidence of the area and is a trend we wish to continue. The airport provides an annual economic output for the region in excess of £130 million and more than 2,300 jobs are linked to it, air services and inbound passengers’ spending here.
“Creating new capacity at the airport in line with our master plan, particularly in the terminal building, will be a key element of our work going forward,” said Mr Walton.
HIAL has invested millions of pounds in its Inverness facilities in the past 18 months, including expansions to aircraft parking stands and car parks to accommodate increasing traffic. It is currently developing the introduction of seven day local radar cover at Inverness in a multi-million pound two phase project which will improve air traffic management and result in new flight procedures which reduce aircraft noise and fuel burn.
“The airport and aviation in general has been one of the region’s real success stories to date. Better air connections have helped to make the Highlands a more attractive place to live and work while catalysing inward investment and tourism,” said Mr Walton.
“It will be exciting to work with our partners in the local authorities, enterprise network, regional transport partnership and private sector to ensure that Inverness continues to fulfil its potential and benefit the region’s people and economy.”
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