Last week I met Scottish transport minister Stewart Stevenson to discuss what the government is doing for the city and the Highlands on this thorny issue.

First, the decision by BMI was taken because they were losing money — substantially they say. The slots they had at Heathrow were not the best. The legal right to use slots at Heathrow and other busy airports used to be determined by BAA or government — and in their gift. The real problem has been that gradually these slots became tradeable commodities — bought and sold. The Westminster government has legal powers to control the use of slots — i.e. the government in London could require a slot to be used for Inverness. However, because the government, starting in Mrs Thatcher's time, allowed a free for all, it is probably no longer legally possible to do that, as slots are now assets bought and sold by airlines to have the right to land at airports like Heathrow.

Indeed I understand that the last slot transaction was by a major US airline who allegedly paid £100 million for a series of slots at Heathrow! What has happened in effect is that through incompetence and inactivity, the Westminster government has literally lost control of slots — forfeited ownership — and has received nothing for it. This has had the consequences that we have seen — with Highland travellers at a disadvantage in connections interlinking to the rest of the world, and damage to tourism here as well.

The transport minister has however sought from his Westminster counterpart Jim Fitzpatrick a pledge that when the new third runway at Heathrow comes to pass, then slots are reserved there for flights connecting London Heathrow to both Inverness and Aberdeen. The third runway is intended for short haul flights and so will be ideal for connections to the North of Scotland and not suitable for long haul more lucrative international flights. The Scottish government has suggested that a planning condition could be attached to the creation of a third runway at Heathrow that it be used for regional airport links. I hope that all Scottish MPs and MSPs will support this move by the Scottish government — although it should be noted that there is not expected to be a third runway for at least seven years.

Meantime there are other aviation transport hubs in Europe and perhaps we can focus more on these.

In addition the Scottish government is lobbying hard to keep the exemption from air passenger duty for all internal flights in the Highlands and Islands and all flights from these airports to other destinations. This exemption must be preserved in the changes the Westminster government is making to aviation duty. I hope that this case too receives strong political support across all parties.

The real problem has been that there is no UK policy on aviation really — there has been a policy designed for the south east of England and London airports in particular. It is a stark example that Westminster has not worked for Scotland and most particularly has failed the north of Scotland. I took the opportunity to ask the minister what progress is being made to improve rail links. I have lobbied for major improvements for the Inverness to Perth line — ministers are committed to improving journey times between Inverness and Edinburgh/Glasgow and it is expected that around 30 minutes can be saved on the journey time through the upgrade to the Highland Main Line ensuring that rail travel is an attractive choice for passengers travelling to and from Inverness. That should see many more people let the train take the strain.

Finally, I am, as always, arguing for a major set of improvements to the A9 which is the only non-dual carriageway link serving Scotland's cities. Progress to that end is being made and an announcement will be made in late summer or early autumn on the transport projects to be included in the next period, which begins in 2012.

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