Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has asked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon for assurances regarding job losses at HIAL owned airports if their proposals to centralise air traffic control go ahead at today’s First Minister’s Questions.
Roddick said:
“I am concerned by HIAL’s plans. By their own estimates, the project will see the loss of 48 highly skilled jobs in rural areas.
“This move will have a significant impact on Shetland, forcing people to move away from the islands in search of employment, and taking their families with them. We already have a depopulation problem – we need to be creating new job opportunities, not removing them.
“I have met with HIAL regarding the plans previously, and I have joined fellow MSPs in writing to the First Minister.
“I urge HIAL to reconsider their position. I agree that our airports need to be modernised, but that should not be at the expense of the people who work in them.”
The project is in the late planning stages and will see air traffic controllers at HIAL’s island airports replaced with a remote tower outwith the islands.
Watch Emma’s contribution at:
https://www.facebook.com/EmmaRoddickSNP/videos/2967285450212929/?__tn__=%2CO-R
Emma Roddick MSP 
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