New airports chairman search set to take months

RECRUITMENT: Temporary chairman Lorna Jack will oversee HIAL operations for up to eight months as search for successor to Mike Cantlay begins

The process of identifying a new chairman for Scotland’s regional airports operator could take months.

The operations of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) – which includes the airstrip at Riverside in Dundee – are currently being overseen on an interim basis by board member and Law Society of Scotland chief executive Lorna Jack.

The switch took place earlier this month after former HIAL chairman Mike Cantlay, who is one of Scotland’s foremost business figures and a former chief executive of tourist agency VisitScotland, resigned after being named by Education Minister ShirleyAnne Sommerville as the new chairman of the Scottish Funding Council.

Mr Cantlay also serves as chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage, a role he took up in May.

The process to appoint a permanent replacement for Mr Cantlay will be managed by national agency Transport Scotland, but it has now emerged it will be well into next year before a new appointment is made.

“We will be looking to appoint a new chair in the first half of 2018,” a spokesperson for Transport Scotland confirmed.

“Non-British nationals can apply for, and be appointed to, the boards of public bodies if they are legally entitled to work in the UK.”

However, Ms Jack has indicated to the Law Society that her temporary appointment within HIAL could extend for as long as eight months.

She said at the time of her appointment: “I am only able to take this on in the short term with the support and commitment of my colleague nonexecutive directors at HIAL and its senior management team.

Together we will work to maintain that success over this transition period.”

Publicly owned HIAL operates and manages a total of 11 Scottish regional airports, including Inverness, Kirkwall, Islay, Stornoway and Sumburgh.

It is also responsible for Dundee Airport, although the city facility – which offeres a regular scheduled link to London Stansted – is set up as a separate legal entity operating within the HIAL framework.

Mr Cantlay’s resignation from both companies was registered at Companies House on October 10.

Above: HIAL interim chairman Lorna Jack. Right: Mike Cantlay has resigned to join the Scottish Funding Council as chairman. Below: an aircraft is prepared for take-off at Dundee Airport.