Highland Airways

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Highland Airways
IATA 8H	ICAO HWY	Callsign HIWAY
Founded		1991
Fleet size		10
Destinations		Benbecula, Inverness, Shetland Islands, Stornoway
Parent company		Atlantic Holdings
Headquarters		Inverness Airport, Scotland
Key people
Website: www.highlandairways.co.uk

Highland Airways is an airline based in Inverness, Scotland. It operates passenger and freight charters as well as scheduled services from its main base at Inverness Airport, Inverness. In addition, reconnaissance flights are undertaken for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. Aircraft are also based at Glasgow International Airport and Aberdeen Airport.

The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. ^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Destinations 3 Fleet 4 External links 5 References

[edit] History

The airline was established and started operations in 1991. It was originally founded as Air Alba, operating for four years as a flying school. It was renamed Highland Airways in March 1997. When the newspaper industry relocated their charter departure point for Scottish islands to Inverness in 1998, Highland won the contract to provide two BAe Jetstream 31 aircraft per day for this task. One of these aircraft also carried business and leisure passengers on its "Island hopper" service as well as freight.

Highland also expanded into contract work for the oil industry based in Aberdeen during 1998. Highland aircraft facilitated crew changes, business delegations, emergency freight or technician movements for the industry, meaning Highland Airways aircraft were regular visitors to the west coast of Ireland, the Faroe Islands and destinations in Norway including Stavanger and Bergen. The airline also began operating corporate charter services, most notably for BAE Systems, providing a daily service between Glasgow and the company's Filton Aerodrome, as well as flights for financial companies, electronics, utilities, whiskey and the public sector.

General aviation and ground handling facilities were established at Inverness under the name Highland Aviation Services, initially developed to serve the airline's own handling needs, expanded to Stornoway, Benbecula, Inverness and Glasgow, and now provides solutions to other operators.

Highland Airways secured the Royal Mail daytime delivery contract from Glasgow to the Western Isles, sub-contracting a Shorts 360 for the work. The aircraft, based at Glasgow, also operates ad hoc freight charters between Royal Mail work, mainly at night and on Sundays.

Experience with Jetstream, Cessna and ATR aircraft allow the airline to carry out engineering work for third party operators at its engineering facility, and has recently managed an ATR 42 in operation for Air Lithuania.

Highland has also won a 5 year contract to operate, crew and maintain two Cessna F406 reconnaissance aircraft on behalf of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. These aircraft are based in Inverness and wear SFPA markings.

Highland Airways is owned by Atlantic Holdings (95%).

[edit] Destinations

Highland Airways operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations (at February 2007):

• Scotland
  • Benbecula
  • Inverness (Inverness Airport)
  • Shetland Islands
  • Stornoway (Stornoway Airport)
• Wales
  • Anglesey (RAF Valley)
  • Cardiff

Note: Service between Benbecula and Stornoway is under contract from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

[edit] Fleet

The Highland Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[2] :

• 3 BAe Jetstream 31

Other aircraft (at June 2005):

• 3 Cessna F406 (incl. 2 for SFPA contract)
• 1 Cessna F404
• 1 Cessna F402
• ATR 42

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Photos of Highland Airways aircraft

[edit] References

1. ^ Operating Licence
2. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006