Plans for the £20million expansion of Aberdeen International Airport were officially unveiled by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday.
The SNP leader jetted into the Granite City to formally announce the details of the redevelopment, which is expected to increase the size of the airport by half.
The two-storey extension would include two passenger lounges and expanded baggage reclaim, security, and immigration areas.
Also included in the revamped facility will be new retail and food outlets.
Speaking at the airport yesterday, the first minister said the investment was a “huge vote of confidence” in the north-east.
She said: “Aberdeen Airport is hugely successful but I think people travelling through would be the first to say that an upgrade and a refurbishment is exactly what it needs.
“The operators of the airport are putting a lot of effort into growing passenger numbers and establishing new routes from here, and having modern facilities that people expect at airports elsewhere in the country is really important – I’ve seen the plans in some detail and they are going to turn this airport into a modern, state-of-the-art facility.”
The first phase of the three-year project will get under way in May.
And the first minister said the investment was especially positive for the region amid the current climate of the North Sea oil and gas crisis.
Ms Sturgeon said that, together with other projects such as the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and the City Region Deal, the airport expansion would help bolster and bring much-needed diversity to the north-east economy.
“Given the difficulties for oil and gas, it’s a good thing that we’ve got these big infrastructure investments coming together at the same time,” she said.
“It’s good because it provides construction jobs, AWPR is providing a lot of jobs, the same will undoubtedly be true for the airport, but what it does for the infrastructure of the north-east is really important.
“I think everybody would recognise that’s at the heart of the city deal announcements last week – that if we’re to support the north-east economy, including a bright future for the oil and gas sector, a more diversified economy, we need good quality
infrastructure to do that.”