Inverness airport plans retail expansion

Andrew Pentol

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A new departures lounge with more shops and restaurants is among plans to revive the fortunes of the Scottish airport

Inverness airport is seeking planning permission to extend its terminal, adding a new departures lounge with more shops and restaurants. The Highlands and Islands Airports group (HIA) is awaiting results of the executive’s public spending review with a view to beginning work at the end of the year

The move is among several measures which HIA hopes will make the airport profitable for the first time. HIA’s joint venture development of the proposed 600-acre airport business park is also expected to produce an income in the next few years.

An HIA spokesman told the Inverness Courier: “The general trend in the industry is for the yield per passenger to decrease. We will need to generate more income from retail and parking facilities while developing our other sources of income which include charges to airlines and rents paid by retail concessions in the terminal.”

HIA forecasts that Inverness airport will welcome 1,000,000 passengers per year by 2010.