Passenger numbers at Highlands and Islands Airports Limited reached a record high of 1,270,023 in the past year, according to figures published today.

A further 64,639 passengers used Dundee Airport – which transferred to HIAL in December 2007 – in the past 12 months.

HIAL passenger growth for operating year 2007/08, excluding Dundee, was 3% while Dundee recorded an increase of almost 22% on the previous year’s figure.

Inglis Lyon, managing director of HIAL said: “The vital role played by air transport in our region and the commitment of airlines to enhancing services have seen passenger demand increase and our airports handle record volumes of traffic in the past year.

“Increases to frequency and capacity on routes operated by Loganair have been a significant contributory factor to the growth achieved this year, helping to make the region’s remotest locations more accessible.

“At Inverness, the withdrawal of the Liverpool and Heathrow services slowed growth for the year. However, new Flybe scheduled services this spring and new holiday flights to Spain and Jersey this summer will see the airport develop new traffic over the next 12 months.

“Meanwhile, at Dundee, Loganair will launch Belfast and Birmingham services later this month and a new Sumburgh – Bergen service in June so there a number of positive developments coming on stream in the current year.

“All in all, it has been a year of strong performance across our airports and we look forward to achieving further developments with our airline partners this year,” said Mr Lyon.

* Dundee Airport transferred to HIAL on 1 December 2007 and is operated by Dundee Airport Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HIAL.