Inverness Airport
Inverness Airport is an international airport situated at Dalcross, 7 NM (13 km; 8.1 mi) north east of the city of Inverness in Highland, Scotland. The airport is the main gateway for travellers to the north of Scotland with a wide range of scheduled services throughout the United Kingdom, and limited scheduled service to Continental Europe. Limited charter and freight flights also operate throughout the UK and Europe. 581,956 passengers passed through the airport in 2011. It is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) who own most of the regional airports in mainland Scotland and the outlying islands.HistoryThe airport was originally used by the Royal Air Force during World War II and was opened for civil operations in 1947. British European Airways, one of the predecessors to British Airways, commenced flights to London Heathrow in the mid-1970s using a combination of Hawker Siddeley Trident jets and Vickers Viscounts (4-engined turboprops). By the late 1970s and early 1980s there were two daily flights between Inverness and Heathrow, however the route was discontinued in 1983 on the grounds of poor financial performance. Dan-Air inherited the service, offering a three-times daily service using initially a based BAC 1-11 jets followed in the early 1990s by Boeing 737-200 aircraft. The airline sustained the route adding links to London Gatwick and Manchester in the late 1980s, however these new services proved not to be successful and were discontinued.