Inverness Airport

This article is about the international airport in the Scottish Highlands. For the airport in Florida, United States, see Inverness Airport (Florida).

Inverness Airport Port-adhair Inbhir Nis
IATA: INV – ICAO: EGPE
Summary
Airport type		Private
Owner/Operator		Highlands and Islands Airports Limited
Serves		Inverness
Location		Dalcross, Highland
Elevation AMSL		31 ft / 9 m
Coordinates		57°32′33″N 004°02′51″W
Website		Inverness Airport
Map
EGPE Location in Highland Council Area
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
05/23	1,887	6,191	Asphalt
12/30	700	2,297	Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Passengers			581,956
Passenger change 10-11			9.8%
Aircraft Movements			30,755
Movements change 10-11			9.2%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

Inverness Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Inbhir Nis) (IATA: INV, ICAO: EGPE) is an international airport situated at Dalcross, 7 NM (13 km; 8.1 mi) north east of the city of Inverness in Highland, Scotland. 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, and limited charter and freight flights into Europe. 581,956 passengers passed through the airport in 2011. It is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) who own most of the regional airports in mainland Scotland and the outlying islands.

History

Captain Ted Fresson, OBE, 1891–1963, pioneer aviator who established Highland Airways

The airport was originally used by the Royal Air Force during World War II and was opened for civil operations in 1947. British European Airways, one of the predecessors to British Airways, commenced flights to London Heathrow in the mid-1970s using a combination of Hawker Siddeley Trident jets and Vickers Viscounts (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 inherited the service, offering a three-times daily service using initially BAC 1-11 jets followed in the early 1990s by Boeing 737-200 aircraft. The airline sustained the route adding links to London Gatwick 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 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 regional jets. The emergence of EasyJet as a force in UK aviation also coincided with the launch of a daily service to London Luton in 1996. Other destinations and airlines were added (Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Leeds-Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle), 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 on a daily frequency, however the service was discontinued in March 2008, the airline citing rising costs at Heathrow as the reason. In 2009 Ryanair cut its last routes to East Midlands Airport and Liverpool in June, 2009, this was during a review of routes in which Inverness was ranked as one of the worst in the network.

International scheduled services proved difficult to successfully establish until the late 2000s, when a weekly seasonal service between Düsseldorf and Inverness commenced in Summer 2009, operated by Lufthansa CityLine^{[citation needed]}, and in 2011 when Flybe commenced daily operations to Amsterdam.

The now defunct Snowflake (a low cost subsidiary of SAS) operated a twice weekly service to Stockholm in the summer of 2004, however the service was withdrawn after a short period of operations due to lack of demand. KLM UK operated a daily service to Amsterdam via Edinburgh in 1997 but this was short-lived, lasting only a few months. ScotAirways launched a service to Amsterdam in 2001, however this was withdrawn following the events of 11 September. British Airways experimented with a Saturday only connection to Bergen in Norway (via Kirkwall and Sumburgh) 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 between 2006 and 2008 using ATR 42 aircraft before being withdrawn due to the effects of escalating fuel prices.

Present day

The concourse at Inverness Airport

Flybe is now the largest carrier at Inverness Airport. It operates the twice-daily London-Gatwick service, inherited from BA Connect operated by a based Embraer 195 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 network where flights between the islands and the Central Belt 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 and Loganair. Today these services are all operated by Loganair under a franchise agreement with Flybe. 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 favoured by the UK Government. HIAL was criticised for a PFI 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.

Airlines	Destinations
EasyJet	Bristol, London-Gatwick, London-Luton
Flybe	Amsterdam, Belfast City, Birmingham, London-Gatwick, Manchester Seasonal: Jersey, Southampton
Flybe operated by Loganair	Benbecula, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh Seasonal: Bergen [begins 16 May 2012]
Helvetic Airways	Zurich [resumes 19 May 2012]
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine and Contact Air	Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt

Statistics

10 Busiest Current Routes out of Inverness Airport (2011)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	2010-2011 Change
1	- London Gatwick Airport	222,737	7.6%
2	- London Luton Airport	99,574	10.3%
3	- Bristol Airport	75,416	9.0%
4	- Manchester Airport	49,188	5.9%
5	- Stornoway Airport	36,364	22.1%
6	- Birmingham Airport	30,318	0.3%
7	- Kirkwall Airport	21,700	5.8%
8	- Belfast City Airport	21,544	28.1%
9	- Amsterdam Airport	6,603	(New Route in 2011)
10	- Zurich Airport	2,598	53.0 %
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[1]

Transport links

Bus

Improved bus services are now operating between Inverness Airport, Inverness and Nairn. Stagecoach in Inverness route 11 runs every 30 minutes between the airport and Inverness city centre close to the railway station. Stagecoach in Inverness route 29X runs every hour to Nairn.

Rail

There is no station at Inverness Airport, although the Aberdeen to Inverness Line 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 or Inverness (both approximately 9 mi (14 km) away).

Road

The airport is located 7 NM (13 km; 8.1 mi) northeast of the city of Inverness just off the main A96 Aberdeen-Inverness trunk road and is clearly sign-posted from all directions.

Taxis are available directly in front of the terminal building.

Highland Aviation Museum

This museum is situated in the Dalcross Industrial Estate immediately adjacent to the airport. It has four complete aircraft and several aircraft noses on display. The museum is open to the public at weekends and bank holidays.

External links

• Inverness Airport - Official website
• Current weather for EGPE at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for INV at Aviation Safety Network