Direct flights to Amsterdam will do little to secure Dundee Airport’s future and it should close its commercial operation so it is no longer a burden on the state, according to a leading economist.
The Tayside airport is set to run daily flights to the Dutch capital after the UK Government announced £1.2m of subsidies for the route, which is set to be operated by FlyBe.
The move has been celebrated by many for opening Dundee to the world by directly linking it with one of Europe’s busiest airports.
But Scottish economist Tony Mackay and taxpayers’ rights activists said propping up the airport’s commercial operation with public funds is a “waste of money”.
Mr Mackay said the state subsidies the airport receives, which accounted for £2.6 million last year alone, could be channelled into the regeneration of the Waterfront and other development projects in the city instead.
He said: “I think it’s a waste of money and it’s not a good use of public funds.
“The Dundee-Amsterdam route is only going ahead because of subsidies so all this is doing is adding to the state help it gets. I don’t think it will really help the airport in the long run.
“I believe that there could be a future for Dundee as a small, private airport but not as a public airport dependent on large subsidies from the taxpayer.”
He said closure would “obviously have an adverse impact on the Dundee economy”, but said the Scottish Government could transfer the subsidy to support development projects in the city.
His comments were echoed Eben Wilson from TaxpayerScotland. He bemoaned the use of subsidies and said it would be better if the Government “stopped spending so much, slashed taxes and re-vitalised Dundee’s capacity to conquer the world through its creative industriousness”.
“Scotland cannot go on supporting everything that moves with more and more subsidies,” he added.
But there is widespread backing for supporting Dundee Airport’s commercial ventures with state cash to help it meet the growing demands from business and tourism in Tayside.
Dundee city councillor Fraser Macpherson said: “As much as it would allow Dundonians to go around world, it will enable people to come here. The V&A museum will bring 500,000 people in the first year and they have got to get here somehow.”
Gordon Fleming, the former head of airport policy at Dundee City Council, said it is important to have a vision for the future.
“I think we will have to be very patient in trying to re-grow scheduled services, but I also think we should take a long term view, especially with things like the V&A yet to come ‘online’,” he said.
Inglis Lyon, the managing director of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, which owns Dundee Airport, said the route to Amsterdam would be “transformational in terms of business and leisure connectivity, particularly at a time when Dundee is undergoing significant investment”.
A spokesman for the airport admitted their dependence on subsidies is “unlikely to change for the forseeable future”.HIAL ‘absolutely focused’ on new routesHIAL say they are “focused” on increasing the number of scheduled routes using Dundee.
The airport runs a subsidised service to London Stansted and secured Government cash for a link to Amsterdam.
HIAL has dismissed suggestions that HIAL is not doing enough to promote the airport and encourage new routes.
A HIAL spokesman said Dundee is an “integral part” of the company and is the only airport in its portfolio with a full-time business development manager.
He said they “remain absolutely focused on growing Dundee’s scheduled network” and “continue to talk to other operators about the city’s business and tourism potential”.
The number of passengers at Dundee Airport fell from 26,774 in 2013-14 to 22,865 the following year.
It is dwarfed by the latest passenger figure for Inverness of 657,661, which last month won a route to London Heathrow.
However, Dundee has the largest number of airport movements 37,153 last year in the HIAL group.
That is driven by the airport being a “popular magnet” for private charter flights and golf tourism, as well as hosting a centre of excellence for pilot training.