Inverness Airport set for major improvements

An £850,000 project to upgrade vital airfield facilities at Inverness Airport is about to get underway.

Balfour Beatty has been appointed to replace large sections of the airport’s South Apron.

The area is essentially the main parking area for scheduled passenger aircraft, located in front of the terminal.

Work will begin at the end of this month and will be carried out in three phases to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum.

The investment means that larger aircraft types, such as the A319 used by easyJet, can now park next to the airport’s arrivals area.

It will allow passengers to disembark much closer than they can at present.

Longer term, the project will also enable the airport to accommodate more longer range aircraft such as the Boeing 757.

The investment comes at the start of what is expected to be a busy summer season for Inverness Airport, with the return of Lufthansa and Helvetic, flying to Dusseldorf and Zurich respectively.

The flybe Amsterdam service has also proved popular and this month will mark a major milestone, carrying its 10,000th passenger.

Flights to the Norwegian coastal city of Bergen are also set to resume this month, operated by Loganair, via Sumburgh.

Holiday charter flights will also operate this summer to Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Channel Islands and Portugal, while staycationers looking to holiday in Scotland can fly to the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and the Shetland Isles from Inverness.

The airfield project is part of a £3 million capital investment at Inverness Airport, either recently completed or currently underway, including new navigation aids, security x-ray equipment, and additional retail and catering facilities. In 2013, a further £1.5 million will be spent on a project to resurface the runway.

Inverness Airport manager Graeme Bell said: "This project is fundamentally about improving customer service for passengers by ensuring that larger aircraft can park closer to the terminal, but it is also about future proofing the airport for growth, part of a substantial, ongoing investment by HIAL in Inverness Airport designed to ensure that Inverness is able to compete more effectively.

"As one of the fastest growing airports in Scotland, with passenger numbers currently growing at a rate of nearly 13%, Inverness is enjoying a strong recovery after a challenging period for the aviation industry.

"The fact that our new Amsterdam service has already carried more than 10,000 passengers illustrates the strength of the recovery, but is a also reminder that we must continue to invest for the future in order to attract new airlines and increase passenger numbers."

The work to replace the South Apron is expected to be complete by July.

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