It’s no secret that Scotland enjoys a world-class tourism sector. Our landscapes, history, and culture bring in over £4 billion to the economy each year – and this shows no signs of slowing down. Visit Scotland’s latest figures show that nearly four million tourists visited in 2023: an increase of 15% from 2019.

Some of our most northerly regions have enjoyed a boom in recent years thanks to the North Coast 500, while Kirkwall and Lerwick have quickly become some of the most popular cruise destinations in the UK.

Scottish aviation: as it stands

The Climate Change Committee found that civil aviation accounted for 9% of the UK’s total carbon emissions in 2019 (in 2022, aviation accounted for 7%, but it’s important to note that the sector had not fully recovered from the pandemic). While transport across the UK becomes more sustainable, we must remember that as an island, the prevailing way that tourists arrive here is by plane.

As it stands, the typical tourist will arrive in one of Scotland’s five international airports, before an onward journey to their destination. Travelling to Tiree, for example, could take anywhere up to 8 hours by car. The current alternative is to fly, but with limited flights, increasing costs per passenger, and more consumer concern around flight shaming, it’s clear that work must be done to make aviation across Scotland more sustainable. 

Sustainable tourism

The Scottish and UK Governments have set 2045 and 2050 as their net zero delivery dates, respectively. Work is already well underway across a variety of transport modes to cut back on emissions, and this is no different for aviation. The opportunity to deliver more sustainable forms of air travel is within reach; whether it’s the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel on long-haul flights (recently demonstrated by Virgin Flight FL100 from London to New York) or through the introduction of new types of aviation technologies like Hybrid Air Vehicles, Electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, Seaplanes and Sea-gliders or by retrofitting current propulsion with hybrid-electric propulsion systems poses a new opportunity for regional aviation.

A more sustainable future

That’s why the work we’re carrying out at SATE is so important: there is a huge opportunity to tap into sustainable regional aviation to tackle connectivity challenges across the country. SATE is spearheading these developments, having recently announced an MOU between HITRANS and Hybrid Air Vehicles which will progress potential Airlander 10 services for the Highlands and Islands. Part of the agreement will look at utilising the aircraft for experimental sightseeing and regional connectivity travel.

SATE and its partners envision a future for regional aviation where new routes, short hops, and less queues will allow tourists to travel across the country in a fraction of the time that it would take today, enabling new connectivity to places that are currently congested with traffic bottle necks or inaccessible during the time visitors must spend to explore our country.

Current data shows that 65% of travel across our ferry network comes from visitors to the area, with the remaining 35% coming from residents. This reinforces our view that there will be an appetite for new-stand alone air routes which take pressure off other transport services while paving the way for a greener future in the way all of us – tourists and residents alike – travel across Scotland.

Lukas Princ, SATE Business Manager