Aviation Scotland: Inverness Airport chief Inglis Lyon upbeat that returning US tourists will fuel its recovery this summer

"This is one of the major development areas in the Highlands,” Inglis Lyon beams as he cast his eye across Inverness Airport’s environs.

As the region’s main airport readies itself for an anticipated even better summer than last year, buoyed by further post-Covid hordes of American tourists, a second golf course is in the pipeline at nearby Cabot Highlands – the former Castle Stuart – while a four-star, 120-bedroom Courtyard by Marriott hotel has opened beside the terminal.

Mr Lyon, managing director of Scottish Government-owned Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (Hial), said Inverness’s routes to two of the world’s biggest hub airports – Heathrow and Amsterdam – were helping power the group back to pre-pandemic passenger levels, providing both visitors and locals with one-stop links with much of the world.

Inverness, by far the busiest of the 11-airport group, has only two other international routes, to Dublin and June-July flights to Majorca. And Mr Lyon is keen to win more European “bucket and spade” destinations to meet demand, such as to Spanish resorts like Alicante, which would also serve the holiday home market.

Highlands and Islands Airports Limited managing director Inglis Lyon at Inverness Airport. Picture: The Scotsman

But speaking to The Scotsman in the second part of our Future Flight series on Scottish aviation, he said flights further afield were problematic because of the limited length of the runway, which could restrict how full an aircraft could fly to destinations such as in the Canaries because of the weight of fuel required.

Mr Lyon said the huge impact of Covid on aviation had also set things back. He said: “Airlines built up significant debt, and conversations we had with them which might have looked fruitful have gone back a few steps.”

For now, London is the focus of much of Inverness’s traffic, more than half of which is carried by EasyJet on up to three flights a day to Gatwick, while British Airways connects to Heathrow twice a day and KLM to Amsterdam three times daily. Increasing those frequencies further is among Mr Lyon’s targets.

Glasgow-based Loganair is also key, in linking the Hial network, which stretches from Shetland to Dundee and Campbeltown. Mr Lyon described the airline as “integral to how Highlanders move around the Highlands” and said flights were more reliable in bad weather than ferries, in addition to CalMac’s problems with its ageing fleet.

Inglis Lyon said: "This year is going to be a good summer – better than last year.” Picture: The Scotsman

Hial is expected to handle 1.39 million passengers in the year to this month compared to 1.03m last year after dipping to 393,000 in the first year of the pandemic. The total is forecast to increase to 1.54m in the year from April – nearly 92 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

Mr Lyon is particularly optimistic about the United States in Inverness’s recovery, which provides its biggest source of inbound traffic – more than 100,000 passengers a year.

He said: “The American market is really strong and feeds in to Scotland’s golfing market. This year is going to be a good summer – better than last year.” Mr Lyon will be hoping that isn’t dented by industrial action, which unions suspended last week following a new pay offer.

But he acknowledged that making flying sustainable by not contributing to global warming was the biggest longer-term challenge.

The four-star Courtyard by Marriott hotel beside Inverness Airport's terminal opened just as Covid struck in 2020. Picture: The Scotsman

Mr Lyon is one of Scotland’s longest-serving airport chiefs, with 18 years in the job, staying because of the quality of life, “stunning" area and “amazing” people. Originally from Aberdeen, he moved to Hial from Stagecoach having worked for the bus operator in the UK and Africa.