Record year for regional airport operator

The airport group, which operates 11 airports across Scotland, handled 1,437,625 passengers in 2015/16, up by more than 6000 on the previous year.

Inverness Airport, the busiest in the group, added more than 13,000 passengers.

Smaller island airports such as Tiree and Barra – celebrating its 80th anniversary - enjoyed strong growth, with passenger numbers up 12% and 10.7% respectively.

Inglis Lyon, Managing Director of HIAL, said: “This has been a good year for HIAL’s airports. Despite the downturn in the energy sector, a key market for HIAL, passenger numbers increased during the year.

“Our smaller island airports performed extremely well, as did Inverness and Dundee, both of which will see expansion in the coming months as a result of new routes.

“We have worked hard to improve connectivity across our group, with new aircraft serving the communities of Barra, Tiree and Campbeltown and new air services due to launch at Inverness and Dundee.

“As a result of our strengthening route network, regional Scotland is now better connected than ever before.”