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4 Policy Context of HIAL
4.1 Whilst the optimum delivery mechanism will be considered as part of this review, the Scottish Government believes that there is an indisputable case for continuance of the functions which HIAL currently carries out i.e. the management and operation of airports in the Highlands and Islands (and Dundee). The existing HIAL network of airports forms a key part of the region's transport infrastructure providing for air services which are in many respects a lifeline for the communities they serve.
4.2 HIAL's contribution to the Scottish Government's strategic priorities is outlined below. In facilitating improved journey times and connections and by helping to improve accessibility and affordability, the functions currently carried out by HIAL also play an important part in delivery of two of the three overarching priorities identified in the National Transport Strategy.
(see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/12/04104414/0 ).
4.3 It would of course be open to Ministers to decide that the environmental disbenefits of air travel outweigh the economic and social benefits of maintaining the Highlands and Islands airport network (and Dundee Airport). However, the Scottish Government believes that the airports and the air services they facilitate perform vital economic and social functions in the areas which they serve and that this, allied to the actual environmental impact of air services in the Highlands and Islands, strongly justifies continued support.
Whilst the Scottish Government would not in any way wish to prejudge the validity of other potential delivery mechanisms for important ancillary functions currently carried out by the Company, such as air traffic services and air fire services, the provision of these functions in some form is a precondition of the network's continued operation.
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