Campaigners have claimed that the lack of an airport “is holding back investors” from considering moving to Skye.
Island residents have held a long running campaign to reopen the disused airstrip at Ashaig near Broadford which has been closed since the 1980s.
One of the leading campaigners is Shirley Spear, co-founder of the Michelin starred restaurant The Three Chimneys and chairwoman of the Scottish Food Commission.
She said that she had taken around seven hours to drive from her home in the north of Skye to Edinburgh on a business trip this week.
Ms Spear said: “That’s a full working day for a lot of people.
“One of the first things that people look for in business is decent travel infrastructure. That kind of journey time will put people off.”
Yesterday the Scottish Government said that it had “no plans” for future air services to Skye, saying that funding would have to be sourced at a local level.
The airstrip is currently owned by Highland Council and the most recent feasibility study suggested that it would take around £2.3million to bring it back to Civil Aviation Authority standards.
However, the bill could rise to £15.3million if the air transport watchdog insists on the runway being lengthened and widened to meet safety rules.
Another founding member of the FlySkye campaign, Ian Blackford, now the SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, said: “The airport is still in good condition and to get it up and running to receive the Twin Otter planes that Loganair have suggested they could fly would have cost around £2.3million.
“The main thing is that we are creating jobs and economic sustainability to give young people a chance to stay in the area and bring up families.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government has no plans for future air services to Skye.
“We recognise the aspirations of bodies and individuals in the Highlands and Islands to expand air services and we are happy to discuss them, but we would expect funding for such an air service to be sourced at a local level.”
The airport was brought into use in 1972 with Loganair running flights from Skye to Glasgow. It closed 16 years later as a result of high costs and the loss of a public subsidy.
Ms Spear believes that the return of an airport would bring more visitors and businesses to the island, as well as helping residents with faster links to the rest of Scotland.