North airports enjoyed a record year for passenger numbers in 2015, their operator said yesterday.
Highlands and Islands Airports (Hial), which also runs Dundee Airport, said its 11 terminals were used by a total of £1.45million people last year. This was up by 45,000, or 3.2% on 2014.
But the loss of services between Inverness and London City, bad weather, cancellations and less demand from the energy sector left final quarter figures down by 3.2% to 341,291.
Inverness was the busiest and fastest growing airport for the whole year, with 678,683 passengers – an increase of 8% and up by more than 50,000 on the previous year.
Hial said growth in the Highland capital was driven by increased demand for international services, including routes to Amsterdam, Dublin, Geneva and Zurich as well as increased traffic to Manchester and London Gatwick.
The airport is poised for one of its busiest years after British Airways and KLM launch new services to London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol in May.
Islay was also a strong performer in 2015, with passenger numbers up by 6.9% to 30,4324.
The airports on Barra, Benbecula and Tiree saw increases of 2.2% to 10,796, 2.1% to 34,065 and 4.6% to 10,338 respectively.
Sumburgh and Wick John O’Groats suffered a slight fall in numbers, down by 1.1% to 315,983 and 0.9% to 32,381 respectively, which Hial said was due to less demand for energy sector services to and from Aberdeen.
Passenger totals also fell at Campbeltown, Kirkwall and Stornoway, by 7.8% to 9,013, 0.9% to 175,909 and 1.4% to 131,253 respectively.
Hial said Dundee Airport ended the year in a strong position, recording two consecutive quarters of growth in the second half due to increased golf leisure business and growing demand for its daily Stansted service. The annual total for Dundee grew by 0.4% to 22,948.
Inglis Lyon, Hial managing director, said: “The last 12 months have been the busiest in our 30-year history, with record numbers of business and leisure passengers using our airports.
“This growth illustrates the enormous importance of our regional airports to Scotland’s economy.
“We will continue to invest in our airports, with major developments planned or underway at Inverness and Sumburgh this year, and continued efforts to improve our customer service and attract more business across the group.
“Notwithstanding the welcome arrival of British Airways and KLM at Inverness we have more work to do to attract new business and improve our financial outlook.”