Fancy flying from Orkney to Orlando or Shetland to Shanghai? Some of Scotland’s most remote communities recently celebrated a year of Loganair’s expanded operations at Heathrow, making these destinations much closer than you would think. A world of opportunity has opened up for Scottish businesses to proudly fly the flag abroad, with Scottish whisky and salmon being flown to over 200 destinations across the globe.

Orkney fudge and celebratory cake were handed out to the lucky passengers boarding a special anniversary flight to Dundee in May as senior execs from Heathrow and Loganair marked one year of tartan tailfins flying to the Highlands and the Islands from Heathrow.

With Loganair’s expanded presence at Heathrow, who started serving the City of Derry, Shetland and Orkney via Dundee from May 2023, Heathrow now connects to 13 destinations across the UK and crown dependencies, more domestic routes than any other UK airport. This truly covers the length and breadth of the country, from the northernmost point, Shetland to the southernmost point Jersey.

Heathrow is expecting a record-breaking year with over 82 million passengers passing through the doors. It’s been a turbocharged start for domestic passengers as well, the strongest numbers for almost a decade and it is fantastic to see Loganair opening up connectivity across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Heathrow’s role as the UK’s hub airport makes this impressive domestic connectivity offering possible. Think of it like the spokes of a bicycle wheel, Heathrow collates passenger and cargo demand from across the country to one central point to maximise trade and business opportunities.

From Walker’s shortbread to whisky, Scotland’s finest exports are being flown from seven locations across Scotland to Heathrow and onward to over 200 destinations in 90 countries in a single stop, opening up 95% of the world’s economy. With Walker’s shortbread exporting globally through Heathrow, Scotland’s premier biscuit connoisseur Nicky Walker agrees – ‘Heathrow is the best connection. As we are based in the North of Scotland, we need a central hub to go anywhere in the world.’

With twice daily connections to Dundee and the City of Derry amongst other UK cities from Heathrow means international visitors can wake up in America or the Far East and land in Scotland or Northern Ireland before the business day starts. This is made possible by the best use of ‘Public Service Obligation’ (PSO) routes, where government financially supports routes which otherwise would not be commercially viable.

Heathrow welcomes the London to Dundee PSO route moving to Heathrow as Scottish businesses and passengers can take best advantage of onward trade and connectivity opportunities, that only a hub airport can provide. Support for the PSO routes is high, with Dundee Councillor Steven Rome praising the ‘improved connectivity and anticipates further growth in passenger numbers’ as a result of the move.

Reflecting the importance of connectivity to regional communities and businesses, since 2017 Heathrow has provided a discount on passenger charges for domestic flights. This makes it more affordable for airlines to establish and maintain domestic routes at Heathrow, ensuring all parts of the country can benefit from hub connectivity.

With over half of domestic flights in the UK over water, to Northern Ireland, the Scottish Highlands and Crown dependencies, air links are a lifeline, connecting to places not easily accessible by road or rail. Road and rail links play a vital role in connecting the UK but they must sit alongside air connections, allowing people to choose the mode of transport that makes the most sense for their journey. When travelling large distances or travelling over water, air links open up tourism, consumer spending and investment opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be feasible.

However, this cannot come at any cost. The benefits of domestic aviation must be protected in a world without carbon. Short haul, domestic flights like Heathrow to Dundee present the most exciting opportunities to decarbonise as ‘zero emissions flight’ like electric or hydrogen powered aircraft will first be possible on short domestic flights. Last year a 20-seater hydrogen aircraft flew in the UK, with Airbus planning to introduce short haul hydrogen aircraft from 2035.

But we are not waiting for future zero emission technology to come online to decarbonise. The tools to reduce carbon from flying today are available and already in use at Heathrow. Sustainable Aviation Fuel is an alternative to fossil fuel based aviation fuel that can deliver 70% lifecycle carbon reduction when compared to conventional fuel. The opportunity for Scotland to benefit from SAF is massive, thousands of jobs would be created in St Fergus and Grangemouth, sites identified as promising UK SAF plants.

Heathrow is financially incentivising the use of SAF at the airport, making using the greener fuel a more commercially viable proposition for airlines by halving the price between traditional jet fuel and SAF. The SAF incentive scheme is entering its third year with record levels of SAF set to be used at Heathrow. With £71m available for airlines Heathrow is targeting 2.5% of aviation fuel used at the airport being SAF, which if achieved amounts to 155,000 tonnes of aviation fuel.

It is possible for aviation to deliver both for the economy and meet the environmental commitments that every part of society needs to reach. The benefits of aviation to Scotland – trade, tourism, connectivity – must be protected and Heathrow will continue to be a supportive voice for the benefits of domestic connectivity into the hub airport for all of the UK.