Highlands and Islands Airports Limited today (Monday 2 June) confirmed that Inverness Airport will not be closed by strike action planned by trades union Unite on 9 June and 4 July.

HIAL continues to offer further talks and arbitration to Unite after it was formally notified of the industrial action over pay on Friday last week.

HIAL has formally notified flight operators that its other nine airports are likely to be disrupted by the action but is continuing to look at what contingencies can be put in place with Airport Fire Service personnel who are not covered by the action.

A HIAL spokesman said: “Following local discussions we have reviewed the operational resources available to us at Inverness and can confirm that we will be providing fire and rescue cover. This will ensure that the airport operates as normal although flights between Inverness and the islands will be dependent upon the situation at Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh airports. Scheduled flights to non-HIAL airports, the majority of the airport’s traffic, will be able to operate as normal.

“The operational impact at our other nine airports is still being assessed but the worst case scenario remains that if fire fighters and leading fire fighters strike then airports will be closed for scheduled flights. The AFS personnel not represented by Unite are not sufficient in number to cover all our airports but we are looking at how best they could be deployed. We will be advising airlines and the public on Thursday this week of the final position for the first day of action on 9 June once contingency plans have been finalised.

“Our priority is to avert disruption at all our airports and our offer to Unite for further talks and arbitration remains on the table from last week although we have not had a response from the union.”