Passenger numbers are continuing to climb back to pre-pandemic levels at Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, new figures show.
The regional airport operator has reported a 10.4 % rise in passenger numbers for the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, compared with the same period last year.
HIAL, which operates 11 airports, said 425,222 people travelled through its network in the three months from April to June, up from 385,196 last time. Driving the uptick were a 17.6% increase in passengers at Inverness Airport to 240,631, Islay (up 14.1% to 8,747), Tiree (up 10% to 3,802), and Campbeltown (up 17.1% to 2,071).
READ MORE: Scotch whisky firm reveals major change
The first-quarter figures amounted to 87.3% of the number of passengers HIAL’s 11 airports attracted prior to the pandemic in 2019/20.
Kirkwall saw passenger numbers rise by 7.1% to 37,221; Barra by 4.7% to 3,953; Benbecula by 4.4% to 8,280; and Wick John O’ Groats by 29.5% to 2,774.
But Stornoway and Sumburgh both reported slight falls during the three-month period, by 0.3% to 26,788 and 0.6% to 81,262) respectively. Dundee Airport also recorded a drop in numbers, from 10,435 in the same period in 2022/23 to 9,688.
George Farquhar, director of airport operations for HIAL, said: “Leading into what is a hugely important 2023 tourist season, the new figures are encouraging and highlight the key role our people and airports continue to play to the Highland economy in providing vital connections to and from our iconic Highlands & Islands destinations.
READ MORE: Scottish hotel market thriving in midst of 'perfect storm'
“With almost 1.5 million people having passed through our 11 airports across the Highlands and Islands over the past 12 months, the economies in each of those areas will have benefited significantly from the added investment and spending they bring with them.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here