A growing taste for the high life has led a top aviation firm to bring more private jets to Aberdeen.
Gama Aviation wants to build a hangar, offices and aircraft handling terminal at Aberdeen International Airport given the increase in private plane use in the north-east in recent years.
The firm – which has bases in the USA, UAE, Geneva and Hong Kong – hopes the new site will boost business aviation traffic around the oil capital.
Tourist bosses have also welcomed the development and hopes it could act as a key link between wealthy visitors and the area’s golf courses, castles and whisky trails.
Philip Smith, regional director at VisitScotland, said: “Anything that helps to attract high net-worth visitors to Scotland can only be a good thing for the country’s economy.
“Expanding this facility for luxury private jets in Aberdeen would help to further the position of the city, and Scotland as a whole, as a more aspirational destination.
“As well as being an important business destination, with oil obviously playing a key role, Aberdeen City and Shire has a wealth of things to offer in terms of leisure attractions, including its stunning castles, its range of whiskies and some of the finest golf courses in the world.”
Between 2013 to 2014, the number of private non-commercial aircraft flights at Aberdeen increased from 82 to 178.
Overall flights at Aberdeen International Airport have also skyrocketed in recent years, with around 99,000 in 2004 and increasing up to around 124,000 in 2014.
If approved, the centre could be operational by 2016.
The new site will also support the air ambulance, the Beechcraft King Air 200, which Gama is contracted to run until 2020 on behalf of Scottish Ambulance Service.
Gama Aviation opened a similar base at Glasgow Airport in November 2013 ahead of last year’s Ryder Cup, Commonwealth Games and MTV Awards.
The £3.8million centre, which caters for private and business jets, serves the rich and famous as well as the business community.
The proposed 18,363sq ft facility in Aberdeen would be located on the east side of the airport, off Foinavon Close.
A Gama Aviation spokesman said: “We have leased a facility at Aberdeen to support our work with NHS Scotland for some time.
“The next, logical step is to build our own state-of-the-art facility to serve Aberdeen and the east coast of Scotland.
“If our application is approved, we anticipate the completion of the work in 2016, creating our third base in Scotland, following our two facilities at Glasgow international airport.”