Highlands and Islands Airports
Highlands and Islands Airports limited has published its annual report for 2020/21 with passenger numbers and aircraft movements severely curtailed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Working closely with Transport Scotland and Loganair, HIAL ensured that a skeleton service of lifeline services to the islands was maintained throughout lockdown periods. The schedule ensured HIAL’s airports continued to provide essential services to remote island communities, including emergency NHS passenger transfer, Royal Mail services and support for the offshore energy industry.
Restrictions on travel and a number of local and national lockdowns contributed to an overall reduction of almost 77 per cent passenger flow across all of its airports for 2020/21. Final figures for 2020/21 report just under 393,000 passengers compared to 1.68 million during 2019/20.
Over the year, HIAL, which is wholly owned by the Scottish Ministers, received a public subsidy of £56,846,000 including revenue funding of £36,600,000, and capital funding of £20,246,000 which was supplemented by £3,555,000 of loan funding for commercial activities.
