Industry key Aberdeen and Inverness airports could get new air links with London – if one of the capital’s airports is allowed to build a new runway.
Gatwick Airport chief executive Stewart Wingate said last night that he recognised the need for regional airports to benefit from any expansion.
He has now pledged to work with Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) to look at how increased capacity could benefit regional routes such as those to and from Scotland.
“Gatwick Airport recognises the importance of air connectivity to the nations and regions of the UK and the enduring desire to see important routes maintained as capacity is constrained at the UK’s largest airports,” Wingate said.
“We believe we have a strong case for a second runway and that additional capacity will not only foster the establishment of more international routes – it will strengthen domestic services for the benefit of the UK as a whole.
“As part of Gatwick Airport’s plans for an additional runway we will work with partners such as SCDI to explore ways of ensuring domestics routes can benefit in the short term and further into the future.”
He said he recognises the challenges that smaller regional routes have traditionally faced at Heathrow, and are starting to face at Gatwick, and believes the expansion could be an opportunity for regional routes to see strengthened connections to and through London.
“The Airports Commission has said that new capacity will be needed to maintain the UK’s position as a hub for international air traffic – it will report on the options shortly and we believe that safeguarding and enhancing domestic and global connectivity for Scottish businesses must be a key consideration,” said Fraser Grieve, chairman of the Inverness-London Airlink Group and Highlands and Islands Manager of SCDI.
“The Inverness-Gatwick air link is of particularly significant importance to the Highlands & Islands economy and this commitment indicates that Gatwick understands the challenges regional routes experience as a result of the current capacity constraints they face.”
However, the news follows disruption of flights between Inverness and the Western Isles due to staff shortages earlier this week.
Some services between the Highland capital and Stornoway Airport on Lewis had to be cancelled and others were delayed as a result of “staff changes” and illness.
Stornoway Airport is normally open from 7am-7.45pm on weekdays, but opening times were reduced to 8.15am-5.45pm on Wednesday and Thursday.
Teatime flights to and from Inverness and Glasgow were cancelled and morning services were delayed as flights from Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow were held back.
“With a reduced pool of qualified controllers, we need to limit their working day in order to comply with regulations governing the amount of hours that air traffic personnel can work,” said a Hial spokesman.
“Our controllers have worked hard to limit the disruption on these two dates, though we appreciate this will still cause some inconvenience for passengers.”
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