Aviation is of critical importance for the region, more so than for almost any other region of the United Kingdom. Being remote from all major domestic centres of commerce and Government, the importance of aviation in a region such as the Highlands and Islands is evident.
However, three other features have led to aviation becoming an even more important part of the transport scene in the Highlands and Islands, each reflecting a different facet of surface journey times being disproportionate in relation to distance:
- Competing rail services are few and slow, and often poorly timed for day return trips; with the result that city centre to city centre travel by air is more competitive for shorter journeys in the region than elsewhere.
- Because of the indented coastline and the mountainous topography, road journeys are slower in this region than elsewhere in the UK.
- A significant proportion of the region’s population resides on islands, for which surface journeys must involve ferries that are generally slow, often infrequent and not always reliable, especially in winter.
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Air services are vital to a region that is distributed over such significant distances, minimum surface journey times by comparison for routes in the region are four and a half to almost 15 hours.
Air services are very important for the region’s and Scotland's economy. Quick and reliable connectivity is vital for certain sectors of the economy, including for tourism and for encouraging inward investment. Even mainland journeys to the national gateways can take six hours or more. The region’s air network therefore is as important as the road, rail and ferry services, and even with significant development of these other means of transport, they will not be able to provide a viable alternative to air for many types of journeys.
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