SWINDON's engineering consultancy Halcrow has been involved in the new £4.2m road linking Inverness airport with the A96.

This will significantly improve surface access to the airport and open up the development potential of the 250 hectare airport business park site. Construction of the road started a year ago and the scheme was designed by Halcrow. The contractors were Mowlem.

Inverness is the region's largest airport and is on target to handle a record 660,000 passengers a year which will represent passenger growth of 90 per cent since 1999.

The airport handles more than 330 scheduled flights per week to London, Belfast, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.