HIGHLANDS & Islands Airports has achieved record annual passenger numbers, even though traffic was down in the final quarter of its financial year to March amid the oil and gas sector’s woes.
The group, which operates 11 Scottish airports, handled 1,437,625 passengers in its 2015/16 financial year. This was up by more than 6,000 on the prior 12 months.
However, passenger numbers in the January to March period, at 299,968, were down by 4.5 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
Passenger numbers in the January to March quarter at Sumburgh in Shetland, at 60,962, were down by six per cent year-on-year. At Wick John O’Groats Airport, passenger numbers in the January to March period were, at 5,943, down by 42.8 per cent on a year earlier. Highlands & Islands Airports highlighted a drop in energy sector traffic at Sumburgh and Wick John O’Groats.
Inglis Lyon, managing director of Highlands & Islands Airports, highlighted strong performances by the company’s smaller island airports, as well as at Inverness and Dundee, over the year to March.
Barra’s passenger numbers in the year to March, at 11,663, were up 10.7 on the prior 12 months.
And Tiree achieved a 12 per cent rise in passenger numbers to 10,957 in the year to March.
Annual passenger numbers at Inverness were up by two per cent at 671,103, and Dundee achieved a 5.6 per cent rise to 23,576.
Over the year to March, Sumburgh achieved a 0.2 per cent rise in passenger numbers to 312,061. However, Wick John O’Groats posted a 24 per cent drop in passenger numbers to 27,937 in the year to March.
Highlands & Islands Airports is wholly-owned by the Scottish Ministers and sponsored by the Scottish Government Transport Directorate.
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