Inverness Airport passenger numbers on rise

Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) has published its passenger figures for 2019.

Inverness Airport continued to see a rise in passengers with an increase of 4.8 per cent, up to 946,391 in 2019 from 903,157 in 2018.

Islay also reported an increase year-on-year with 36,045 passengers in 2019 compared with 35,770 in 2018. Dundee saw a small increase in passengers, up to 22,024 in 2019 from 21,889 the previous year.

Sumburgh, which serves the Shetlands and the North Sea oil and gas industry, saw passenger movements dip 11.8 per cent to 328,163 from 372,064 in 2018.

Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Tiree and Wick all saw lower passenger numbers in 2019 compared with the previous year.

HIAL managing director Inglis Lyon said the performance of the airports was in line with expectations and reflected aviation trends.

Mr Lyon said: “I am pleased that Inverness Airport continues to perform well and continues its long-standing period of growth which it has enjoyed in recent years. This has been helped by the introduction of an early morning and late evening return from Heathrow. Routes to Luton and Gatwick have also performed well and our connection to Amsterdam Schiphol airport continues to be popular with travellers.

“We will continue to nurture and develop our network while at the same time ensuring we invest in future-proofing our operational capability.

“We face challenges from a variety of sources including regulatory, technological, environmental and societal changes in coming years, nonetheless HIAL will continue to invest in our airports and we are committed to continuously improving infrastructure and enhancing passenger facilities.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.