Inverness Airport

About Inverness Airport

Inverness Airport (IATA: INV, ICAO: EGPE) is the main airport for the Scottish Highlands. It lies at Dalcross, about 8 miles (13 km) north-east of Inverness city centre between Inverness and Nairn, and serves both residents of the Highlands and visitors to the region. Loganair flights from Inverness also connect the mainland with Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

The airport is operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), a company wholly owned by the Scottish Ministers that runs 11 airports across the north and west of Scotland. Inverness is the busiest of them, with 821,139 terminal passengers in 2025 according to UK Civil Aviation Authority figures.

The main runway, 05/23, is 1,888 metres long with a grooved asphalt surface, and a shorter secondary runway, 11/29, measures 701 metres. A hotel stands next to the terminal, and since 2023 the airport has had its own railway station on the Aberdeen to Inverness line.

How to get to Inverness Airport

By train

Inverness Airport station opened in February 2023 and is served by ScotRail trains on the line between Inverness and Aberdeen, with the journey from Inverness station taking about 11 minutes. The station is not next to the terminal: HIAL advises allowing roughly 20 minutes to walk, following the signs around the edge of the airfield. Stagecoach bus service 1 also calls at the station on its way to the airport.

By road

The airport is reached by Inverness Airport Way, a link road from the A96, the main road between Inverness and Aberdeen. By taxi the trip to the city centre takes about 20 minutes, and Inverness Taxis, the airport's taxi partner, uses a dedicated taxi zone outside the terminal. Car hire is available on site.

Parking is available on site. The short stay car park is a short walk from the terminal and is recommended for stays of up to 48 hours, while the long stay car park, about 10 minutes' walk away, suits longer trips. A free drop-off and pick-up area allows up to 15 minutes, and Blue Badge holders and passengers using special assistance have a dedicated parking area in front of the terminal. There are no public electric vehicle chargers in the airport car parks; the nearest are at Inverness Airport railway station.

By bus and coach

Stagecoach runs the bus services to the airport. Service 1 is the most direct link with Inverness city centre, where the bus station is a short walk from the railway station, and it also serves the shopping park and Inverness Airport station. Service 13 also connects the airport with the city centre but takes a longer route via Croy, and service 10A links the airport with Nairn and Elgin. Services are reduced on Sundays, and the buses are low-floor with space for wheelchairs and buggies.

Terminal and facilities

Inverness Airport has a single terminal building. Verified facilities include:

• Shops and food and drink outlets
• Customer service points
• A cash machine in the terminal
• On-site car hire
• A Changing Places room with a breastfeeding chair, located before security
• A private breastfeeding room in the departures area and baby changing facilities in all passenger toilets
• An adjacent hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott

Airlines and destinations

The route network combines links to London and other UK cities, European connections and flights to the Scottish islands. According to HIAL, the airlines flying there in 2026 are:

• easyJet: London Gatwick, London Luton, Bristol and Birmingham, with the Birmingham route added in March 2026
• British Airways: London Heathrow
• KLM: Amsterdam
• Loganair: Belfast City, Manchester, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh
• Aer Lingus Regional: Dublin, from May 2026
• TUI: holiday flights to Majorca

In summer 2026 Loganair cut its Inverness flights to Kirkwall, Sumburgh and Stornoway to weekends only. After the Scottish Government announced funding in August 2026, weekday flights are due to return from 26 October 2026. Discover Airlines has also announced a weekly Saturday service to Frankfurt, running from 19 June to 11 September 2027.

History

Air travel in Inverness began before the present airport opened. HIAL records that Captain E. E. Fresson flew from Longman airfield in Inverness to Kirkwall on 8 May 1933, and that the first internal airmail service in the UK began on the Inverness to Orkney route on 29 May 1934.

The airfield at Dalcross opened in 1940 as RAF Dalcross and was used mainly for training during the Second World War, including by No. 2 Air Gunnery School. It became a civil airport in 1947, taking over from Longman as Inverness's airport. HIAL was incorporated by the Civil Aviation Authority on 4 March 1986 with Inverness as one of its first eight airports, and ownership passed to the Scottish Ministers following devolution. Inverness Airport railway station, built by the Scottish Government on the Aberdeen to Inverness line, was officially opened on 2 February 2023.