Dundee Airport could be developed into a bigger transport hub as a result of an economic study to be carried out as a matter of urgency.
Infrastructure and Capital Investment Secretary Alex Neil told the Scottish Parliament on Thursday that excellent transport connections are vital to Dundee’s regeneration and said maximising the city’s opportunities from air services is a fundamental component.
He continued: ”The Scottish Government together with partners in Dundee is embarking on a joint economic study which will consider the opportunities for developing the city’s air services, linking this with Dundee’s regeneration, including the exciting waterfront and V&A development, and the wider potential impacts in Tayside and North Fife.
”The study will be open, objective and ambitious. It won’t discount any potential options and in the interests of moving this forward without delay we aim to have conclusions available during the autumn.”
Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick, whose question prompted Mr Neil’s statement, said: ”I was delighted to hear that the Scottish Government and partners are to conduct an impact study into what improvements will be required to Dundee’s rail, bus, road and air services to accommodate the increased volume of passengers and traffic.
”The new V&A will be a big draw with visitors coming from all points of the UK and beyond to it. It has the potential to be one of the biggest attractions in Europe, let alone Scotland. We are expecting up to 500,000 additional visitors to Dundee.
”The regeneration of the city with new leisure and culture facilities, refurbished McManus Gallery, the DCA, Dundee Rep and new hotels such as the prestigious Malmaison hotel mean transport links will require to be improved.”
Dundee Airport is owned by HIAL, whose managing director Inglis Lyon said: ”The development of Dundee Airport, as part of the wider regeneration of the city’s waterfront, is a long-held aspiration of HIAL and we welcome today’s announcement by the Cabinet Secretary.
”It is a very positive sign of the Scottish Government’s ambitions to develop air services from Dundee and we look forward to engaging with ministers and key city partners in this study.”
Alan Mitchell, chief executive of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said: ”This is very good news. It is obvious that with the exciting changes planned in Dundee and surrounding region and the extra visitors planned to come here, and also with the city being promoted as a major centre for renewables, you need a world-class transport infrastructure to support that world-class investment.
”It is important to support the airport to maximise the great asset we have got with it.”