Decision on Heathrow opportunity to deliver on City Region Deal commitments

HITRANS and The Highland Council have welcomed the decision by MPs to back plans to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Responding to the announcement Council Leader Cllr Margaret Davidson said:

“The Highland Council along with other organisations in the area has supported the expansion of Heathrow as the best opportunity to provide improved connectivity between Inverness and London and beyond to the worldwide destinations it serves. Both the Scottish and UK Governments committed to working with us to secure additional flights from the Highland capital to Heathrow as part of the City Region Deal and this decision provides the opportunity to deliver on these commitments. We look forward to working with both governments to ensure that Inverness gets the chance to attract the economic growth that this connectivity can help deliver.”

Councillor Allan Henderson, Chair of HITRANS, also welcomed the decision saying: “The economic benefit to the Highlands and Islands of the re-established daily link to Heathrow is already evident, but this decision to increase the capacity of the Airport must bring with it the ability for people to make daily return trips in either direction and also make better connections to and from international markets. Extra slots to Heathrow would help tourism and wider business in the Highlands flourish. However even with this welcome decision, the extra capacity will be many years away and we must continue to push for more services in the meantime.”

ends