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What are the benefits to Scotland?
The direct air routes into Scotland are of great benefit to the country for a number of reasons: |
- They make it easier for Scottish businesses to travel overseas to meet customers or attend exhibitions etc without costly and time consuming transfers through London (or any other hub). This also works in reverse as it enables customers / partners to come to Scotland to do business. Inward investors particularly value direct air routes when selecting locations.
- They make Scotland more appealing for long-stay holidays and, equally as important, a player in the short-break and city-break market.
- They make Scotland an attractive venue for major international cultural or sporting events since organisers wish to ensure that events are easily accessible to as many people as possible.
- Offering new direct routes also send out the right signals about that country's position in the world.
- Research undertaken by VisitScotland has shown that particularly in the northern European market, direct air routes are brand enhancing for Scotland. Scotland can be viewed as remote and on the periphery of Europe, despite attracting a strong interest abroad. But when people find you can’t fly directly to Scotland, this interest is not always followed up.
How is the funding allocated?
Strict criteria need to be met before RDF funding is allocated to airports. Essentially, a new external direct route must be of economic benefit to Scotland and predominantly of long-term benefit to business travellers, although it also allows for strong inbound tourism routes. It must operating five days a week, all-year round and not compete with an existing service. A full economic appraisal is carried out for each prospective route, scored on factors including destination, creation of jobs, number of inbound tourists and journey time savings.
As airports have the power to discount the landing charges, they need to show prospective airlines offering a new route that they can offer the best possible deal. Ultimately, airlines will make commercial decisions based on hard financial facts. Whatever regard companies have for Scotland, it ranks a long way behind feasibility. If the business case doesn’t stand up the airlines will not come.
Although the fund has focused on European destinations serving in-bound tourism and business markets, it operates slightly differently for Highlands & Islands air services. Highlands & Islands is allowed to look at internal as well as and external services within the area, eg the Eastern airways route from Inverness to Birmingham. This is due to the fact that in this part of country, the network of internal flights is of greater significance, reflecting the different circumstances off the area and marginal economics.
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