Inverness Airport
Encyclopedia
Inverness Airport is an international airport
International airport
An international airport is any airport that can accommodate flights from other countries and are typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle these flights to and from other countries...

 situated at Dalcross, 7 NM north east of the city of Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

 in Highland
Highland (council area)
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The airport is the main gateway for travellers to the north of Scotland with a wide range of scheduled services throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, and limited charter and freight flights into Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. 591,397 passengers passed through the airport in 2009. It is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited is the company that owns and operates 10 airports in the Scottish Highlands, the Northern Isles and the Western Isles...

 (HIAL) who own most of the regional airports in mainland Scotland and the outlying islands.

History

The airport was originally used by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and was opened for civil operations in 1947. British European Airways
British European Airways
British European Airways or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom...

, one of the predecessors to British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

, commenced flights to London Heathrow
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

 in the mid-1970s using a combination of Hawker Siddeley Trident
Hawker Siddeley Trident
The Hawker Siddeley HS 121 Trident was a British short/medium-range three-engined jet airliner designed by de Havilland and built by Hawker Siddeley in the 1960s and 1970s...

 jets and Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...

s (4-engined turboprops). By the late 1970s and early 1980s there were two daily flights between Inverness and Heathrow, however the route was discontinued in 1983 on the grounds of poor financial performance. Dan-Air
Dan-Air
Dan-Air was a leading private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline based in the United Kingdom....

 inherited the service, offering a three-times daily service using initially BAC 1-11
BAC One-Eleven
The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s...

 jets followed in the early 1990s by Boeing 737-200 aircraft. The airline sustained the route adding links to London Gatwick
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...

 and Manchester in the late 1980s, however these new services proved not to be successful and were discontinued.

When Dan Air was bought by British Airways in 1992, the flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...

 retained the service for a further five years, adding a fourth daily frequency shortly before withdrawing the link, amid considerable controversy and public anger, in autumn 1997. British Airways transferred the London service to Gatwick, operated by its subsidiary on a three-times daily basis using lower capacity BAe 146
BAe 146
The British Aerospace 146 is a medium-sized commercial airliner formerly manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2002. Manufacture of an improved version known as the Avro RJ began in 1992...

 regional jets. The emergence of EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...

 as a force in UK aviation also coincided with the launch of a daily service to London Luton
London Luton Airport
London Luton Airport is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway...

 in 1996. Other destinations and airlines were added (Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...

, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

-Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...

, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

), particularly after 2003, where HIALs's marketing efforts were assisted by route development fund support from the Scottish Executive. The London Heathrow link was re-instated in 2004, by BMI
Bmi (airline)
British Midland Airways Limited , is an airline based at Donington Hall in Castle Donington in the United Kingdom, close to East Midlands Airport, and a fully owned subsidiary of Lufthansa...

 on a daily frequency, however the service was discontinued in March 2008, the airline citing rising costs at Heathrow as the reason.

International scheduled services proved difficult to successfully establish until the late 2000's, when a weekly seasonal service between Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 and Inverness commenced in Summer 2009, operated by Lufthansa CityLine
Lufthansa CityLine
Lufthansa CityLine GmbH is a regional airline based in Cologne, Germany. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa and member of the Lufthansa Regional network. It is the largest regional airline in Europe. Its main base is Cologne Bonn Airport, with hubs at Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport...

, and in 2011 when Flybe
Flybe
Flybe Group PLC is a British low-cost regional airline headquartered at the Jack Walker House at Exeter International Airport in Devon, England...

 commenced daily operations to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

.

The now defunct Snowflake
SAS Snowflake
Snowflake was a low-cost airline subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines System, operating on the concept of low fares in return for a basic product . Its route network was composed of flights from Scandinavian destinations to southern Europe...

 (a low cost subsidiary of SAS
Scandinavian Airlines System
Scandinavian Airlines or SAS, previously Scandinavian Airlines System, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the largest airline in Scandinavia....

) operated a twice weekly service to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 in the summer of 2004, however the service was withdrawn after a short period of operations due to lack of demand. KLM UK
KLM UK
KLM UK was the brand name of a British airline subsidiary of KLM, which operated services within the UK and between the UK and the Netherlands using ATR-72, Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 aircraft...

 operated a daily service to Amsterdam via Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 in 1997 but this was short-lived, lasting only a few months. ScotAirways
ScotAirways
Suckling Airways is an airline that focuses on ACMI work and ad hoc corporate charters for business and sporting organisations...

 launched a service to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 in 2001, however this was withdrawn following the events of 11 September. British Airways experimented with a Saturday only connection to Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

 in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 (via Kirkwall
Kirkwall Airport
Kirkwall Airport is the main airport serving the Orkney Islands in Scotland. It is located southeast of Kirkwall and is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited...

 and Sumburgh
Sumburgh Airport
-Other tenants:*Maritime and Coastguard Agency *Bristow Helicopters*Bond Helicopters -Incidents and accidents:...

) during the summer of 1990 but this too was withdrawn and never reinstated. A four times weekly service to Dublin was operated by Aer Arann
Aer Arann
Aer Arann is a regional airline based in Dublin, Ireland. Aer Arann operates scheduled services from Ireland and the Isle of Man to destinations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France, with a fleet of 18 aircraft. Aer Arann has expanded from a single aircraft to Ireland's third largest airline...

 between 2006 and 2008 using ATR 42
ATR 42
-Civil operators:The largest operators of the ATR-42 are FedEx Express, Airlinair, TRIP Linhas Aéreas,and Mexico City-based Aeromar respectively. Number of aircraft as of 2010:Some 70 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type....

 aircraft before being withdrawn due to the effects of escalating fuel prices.

Present day

Flybe
Flybe
Flybe Group PLC is a British low-cost regional airline headquartered at the Jack Walker House at Exeter International Airport in Devon, England...

 is now the largest carrier at Inverness Airport. It operates the twice-daily London-Gatwick service, inherited from BA Connect
BA Connect
BA Connect was a fully owned subsidiary airline of British Airways. Headquartered in Didsbury, Manchester, England, it operated a network of domestic and European services from a number of airports in the United Kingdom on behalf of British Airways...

 operated by a based Embraer 195
Embraer E-Jets
The Embraer E-Jets are a series of narrow-body, twin-engine, medium-range, jet airliners produced by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, and corporate aircraft. Announced at the Paris Air Show in 1999, and entering production in 2002, the aircraft series...

 aircraft. The carrier also has a based Bombardier Q400 which operates routes to Manchester, Jersey and Southampton. There are also Flybe routes using a Q400 to Belfast and Birmingham.

The airport is a hub on the Highlands and Islands
Highlands and Islands
The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are broadly the Scottish Highlands plus Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides.The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied...

 network where flights between the islands and the Central Belt
Central Belt
The Central Belt of Scotland is a common term used to describe the area of highest population density within Scotland. Despite the name, it is not geographically central but is nevertheless situated at the 'waist' of Scotland on a conventional map and the term 'central' is used in many local...

 connect. In the 1970s, British Airways operated Viscount services on the network, later down-sized to Hawker Siddley 748s. These were then replaced by ATPs. British Airways continued to lose money on these routes and gradually transferred its operations to franchise carriers British Regional Airlines
British Regional Airlines
British Regional Airlines was a franchise partner of British Airways based in Manchester. They operated a large network of domestic and european services from many UK regional airports....

 and Loganair
Loganair
Loganair is a Scottish airline with its registered office on the grounds of Glasgow International Airport and in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Loganair operates scheduled services under a Flybe franchise in mainland Scotland and to Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. In addition it operates...

. Today these services are all operated by Loganair under a franchise agreement with Flybe
Flybe
Flybe Group PLC is a British low-cost regional airline headquartered at the Jack Walker House at Exeter International Airport in Devon, England...

. Links to the central belt have recently been lost. There are no longer any direct services to either of Glasgow's airports after they were withdrawn by Loganair due to lack of demand. Highland Airways' attempts to operate this service were subsequently short-lived. A twice daily service to Edinburgh was withdrawn in 2010.

Airlines and destinations

The airport terminal is notable as an early example of the Public-private partnership
Public-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

 favoured by the UK Government. HIAL was criticised for a PFI
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...

 deal signed to build a new terminal at Inverness Airport. The deal signed by HIAL meant it had to pay £3.50 for every passenger flying from the airport to the PFI operator. In 2006, the PFI deal was cancelled, costing the Scottish Executive £27.5 million.

Statistics

10 Busiest Current Routes out of Inverness Airport (2009)
Rank Airport Passengers handled 2008-2009 Change Airlines that serve(d)
1 - London Gatwick Airport
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...

224,872 7.5% Easyjet, Flybe
2 - London Luton Airport
London Luton Airport
London Luton Airport is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway...

86,604 15.5% Easyjet
3 - Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport may refer to:* Bristol Airport, serving Bristol, England, United Kingdom ** Bristol Airport , a docu-soap based on events at Bristol Airport...

73,315 0.8% Easyjet
4 - Manchester Airport 50,505 Flybe (First year of operation)
5 - Stornoway Airport
Stornoway Airport
-Other Tenants:* Maritime and Coastguard Agency - 2 Sikorsky S-92 helicopters operated by CHC Helicopter-Accident and incidents:...

33,110 Loganair
6 - Birmingham Airport 30,348 21.6% Flybe
7 - Kirkwall Airport
Kirkwall Airport
Kirkwall Airport is the main airport serving the Orkney Islands in Scotland. It is located southeast of Kirkwall and is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited...

24,795 33.6% Loganair
8 - East Midlands Airport 20,373 49.3% Ryanair
9 - Belfast City Airport 19,320 14.5% Flybe
10 - Southampton Airport
Southampton Airport
Southampton Airport is the 20th largest airport in the UK, located north north-east of Southampton, in the Borough of Eastleigh within Hampshire, England....

3,903 1.2 % Flybe
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority
United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority
The Civil Aviation Authority is the public corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of aviation in the United Kingdom. The CAA head office is located in the CAA House on Kingsway in Holborn, London Borough of Camden...

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?categoryid=80&pagetype=88&pageid=3&sglid=3

Bus

Improved bus services are now operating between Inverness Airport, Inverness and Nairn
Nairn
Nairn is a town and former burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness...

. Stagecoach in Inverness route 11 runs every 30 minutes between the airport and Inverness city centre close to the railway station
Inverness railway station
Inverness railway station is the railway station serving the Scottish city of Inverness.- History :Opened on 5 November 1855 as the western terminus of the Inverness and Nairn Railway, it is now the terminus of the Highland Main Line, the Aberdeen-Inverness Line , the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and the...

. Stagecoach in Inverness route 29X runs every hour to Nairn.

Rail

There is no station at Inverness Airport, although the Aberdeen to Inverness Line
Aberdeen to Inverness Line
The Aberdeen to Inverness Line is a railway line in Scotland linking Aberdeen and Inverness.-Current services:Passenger services are operated by First ScotRail. There is some limited freight traffic, with Elgin retaining a goods yard, whilst Keith, Huntly and Inverurie retain smaller, less...

 runs along the south perimeter of the airfield. A new station at the airport has been proposed recently, however for the meantime the nearest stations are Nairn
Nairn railway station
Nairn railway station is a railway station serving the town of Nairn in Scotland. The station is managed by First ScotRail and is on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line.- Services :...

 or Inverness
Inverness railway station
Inverness railway station is the railway station serving the Scottish city of Inverness.- History :Opened on 5 November 1855 as the western terminus of the Inverness and Nairn Railway, it is now the terminus of the Highland Main Line, the Aberdeen-Inverness Line , the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and the...

 (both approximately 9 mi (14.5 km) away).

Road

The airport is located 7 NM northeast of the city of Inverness just off the main A96 Aberdeen-Inverness trunk road
A96 road
The A96 is a major road in the North of Scotland.It runs generally west/north-west from Aberdeen, bypassing Kintore, Inverurie, Huntly and Forres, and running through Keith, Fochabers, Elgin and Nairn...

and is clearly sign-posted from all directions.

Taxis are available directly in front of the terminal building.

External links

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