Alex Salmond’s body to be flown home to north-east on Friday

A privately chartered flight to return Alex Salmond’s body to Scotland is expected to land at Aberdeen Airport on Friday afternoon, the Alba Party has  confirmed.

The former first minister died on Saturday afternoon, aged 69, from a heart attack shortly after giving a speech at an event in North Macedonia.

The UK and Scottish governments were locked in discussions for several days over the travel plan for the repatriation of Mr Salmond.

It later emerged a mystery private donor would pay for a privately chartered jet – who was revealed on Thursday to be billionaire philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter.

The Alba Party confirmed the jet is expected to arrive at Aberdeen Airport at around 1.45pm on Friday afternoon.

Members of the family and Acting Alba Party Leader Kenny MacAskill will greet the coffin on its arrival before the cortege departs to Strichen, where Mr Salmond lived with wife Moira.

Funeral plans and mystery donor revealed

It is understood a small family funeral will be held in the north-east, potentially in the Aberdeenshire village he called home.

A separate larger memorial is expected to take place at a later date, with either Edinburgh or Linlithgow thought to be likely locations.

Sir David Davis, a Conservative MP and close friend of Mr Salmond, had called for the Foreign Office to use an RAF plane to return his body.

But Sir Tom later stepped in and paid personally for the privately chartered flight.

In a statement, Scotland’s first self-made billionaire, said: “Whilst he and I disagreed on some of his ambitions, Alex Salmond devoted his life to Scotland and the Scottish people and as such he, and importantly his family, deserved the dignity and privacy of a private return to the home of his birth.

“Our deepest sympathy and thoughts are with his family at this time. To be clear I remain resolutely apolitical.”

The former first minister’s family thanked both governments for their efforts to put in place “swift arrangements” to bring Alex Salmond home to Scotland.

A statement released on Wednesday by Mr MacAskill, on behalf of the family, said: “It brings a great deal of comfort to Moira and other members of the family to know that he will soon be home with them.”