Wick airport sees drop of almost 25% in passenger numbers over last year
New figures show a drop of nearly 25 per cent in passenger numbers using Wick John O’Groats Airport largely as a result of changes to subsidised flight timetables.
Air passenger figures for Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) show that 2678 fewer passengers travelled through Wick in 2024/25 than in 2023/24.
With the airport only hosting one scheduled passenger service, the drop of 23.9 per cent comes after Eastern Airways, which operates the public service obligation (PSO) flights between Caithness and Aberdeen, dropped morning flights from the schedule.
Flights were initially reduced from twice a day to once a day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in October last year due to low demand for the morning midweek service.
In March this year, Highland Council received confirmation from the Scottish Government that it would continue to provide funding for the Wick/Aberdeen PSO into the new financial year.
Scottish Government has pledged up to £1 million again for 2025/26, while the local authority is continuing with its yearly commitment of £300,000.
Then, just 11 days after the Scottish Government funding announcement, another revised Wick PSO timetable came into effect with Monday and Friday morning flights also dropped from the schedule.
The service now runs one flight each way, Sunday to Friday, with no flights on a Saturday.
Eastern Airways has regularly faced criticism over delays and cancellations – although reliability has improved during April of this year, according to Wick councillor Raymond Bremner, who chairs the Wick John O’Groats Airport working group.
HIAL said that changes to flight schedules, impact of adverse weather and changing customer behaviour can impact the number of people using its airports.
Cllr Bremner said: “The 2024/25 year was a challenging one for the Wick PSO, requiring previously publicised changes to the schedule in order to protect the long-term sustainability of the service.
“These challenges have understandably led to a drop in customer confidence over the course of the year, resulting in a decrease in passenger numbers. Since the schedule for the service changed on March 24, we have seen a substantial improvement in reliability, reaching 92 per cent in April 2025, and passenger numbers have remained stable.
“Both Highland Council and the operator remain committed to the delivery of this lifeline service through to March 31, 2026. Over the coming months, our aim is to continue to deliver a high quality service for people living and working in the north Highlands, and we will be making every effort to increase passenger numbers in 2025/26.”
He added: “With regards to future PSO arrangements, with the current contract with Eastern Airways coming to an end in 2026, work is ongoing to assess future requirements for lifeline air services from Wick. This is a complex piece of work involving a number of key partners, and we are not currently able to give a timescale for when more information on this will be made available.”
Passenger numbers across HIAL’s 11 airports remained steady for the period between April1, 2024, and March 31, 2025.
The figures show an overall increase of 3218 passengers on the previous year, bringing the total number of people travelling through the airports to 1,478,725.
The biggest annual increase was seen at Islay where figures rose by 4.9 per cent to 31,392, followed by Kirkwall airport which received 137,744 passengers, a 2.6 per cent increase on the previous year.
Inverness airport was up 1.8 per cent with 805,946 passengers.
However, March figures showed a three per cent increase against the same month in 2024 across the 11 airports operated by HIAL, the company said.
Paul Kelsall, HIAL’s chief executive officer, said: “Air travel remains an essential means of travel for many people living in the Highlands and Islands, and our airports are key to providing connectivity, particularly for those living in the more remote areas of the region.
“The steady passenger numbers reported are testament to the hard work of our airport teams in collaboration with our airline partners. Our strategic focus remains the provision of safe and sustainable airports for our passengers and customer service remains at the heart of what we do, and we look forward to continuing the positive end to the year into 2025-2026.”
