Tourism leaders express concern at air traffic control shortages at Inverness Airport

Tourism leaders say they are “extremely worried” that a shortage of air traffic control staff at a Highland airport could mean flight disruption for weeks.

The issue at Inverness Airport, which serves a million passengers a year, impacted some flights during the May bank holiday weekend.

Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd has offered an apology and urged passengers to contact their airline for the latest flight information.

A spokesman said: “Staffing issues continue and will necessitate temporary closures over the coming weeks.

“We will try, wherever possible, to plan closures around our flight schedules. However, this may not be possible, and some flights may be affected.”

Tony Story of tourism organisation Visit Inverness Loch Ness said: “It’s extremely worrying. As soon as there’s a reason not to make the journey people may choose to go somewhere else. If this carries on for any length of time it could mean massive disruption to our tourist season.

“There’s a noticeable slackening in demand and we’re seeing this across Scotland, not just in the Highlands. Edinburgh is an important feeder market to us and we need that to function properly.

“With all of the problems, with the price of air fares going up and the potential of aviation fuel shortages, there’s a lot of stress in the marketplace.

“We don’t need another reason for people not to travel. We need the people here and we need them in numbers.”

Inverness Airport has connections to the Western and Northern Isles, Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester and Amsterdam.