Communications by Scottish Ministers relating to the future ownership and management of Dundee Airport: EIR release

Information requested

• Any and all internal communications by Scottish Ministers relating to the future ownership and management of Dundee Airport;
• Any and all internal communications on plans for asset disposal of Dundee Airport;
• Any and all internal communications on the limited economic viability of Dundee Airport;
• Any and all internal communications on current and future flood risk facing Dundee Airport.

Your subsequent e-mail of 26 November 2025 specified that you would like information from 1 January 2020 onwards.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Any and all internal communications by Scottish Ministers relating to the future ownership and management of Dundee Airport

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because Scottish Ministers do not own Dundee Airport. Dundee Airport is owned by Dundee City Council and is leased to Dundee Airport Limited (DAL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL). 

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the future ownership and management of Dundee Airport, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Any and all internal communications on plans for asset disposal of Dundee Airport

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Scottish Government does not own Dundee Airport and as such has not been party to any discussions about its disposal. 

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about plans for asset disposal of Dundee Airport, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Any and all internal communications on the limited economic viability of Dundee Airport

I enclose a copy of some of the information that you have requested. For context, please note that Dundee Airport, along with the other 10 airports that HIAL operate, is loss making. All of HIAL’s airports require ongoing subsidy to maintain operations. There is no expectation that any of HIAL’s airports will ever be able to operate on a commercial basis. It is anticipated that all of these airports, including Dundee, will require some level of subsidy to maintain operations indefinitely. Further information on HIAL’s financial status can be found in its Annual Report and Accounts which are published on the HIAL web site at:

https://www.hial.co.uk/downloads/download/12/annual-reports-and-accounts

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested as an exemption under Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (Third party personal data) and an exemption under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to the information you have requested.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by Loganair Limited and HIAL and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests. For Loganair Limited, disclosing information in relation to elements of their air services would be likely to give their competitors an advantage through insight on the performance of individual routes. For HIAL, disclosing information in relation to potential business that they are trying to attract would give their competitors an advantage when competing for that business. In both cases, this would significantly harm their commercial interests.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of these companies to ensure their future success.

Any and all internal communications on current and future flood risk facing Dundee Airport

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Scottish Government is not involved in the operation of the airport, which is a matter for HIAL.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about current and future flood risk facing Dundee Airport, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500495306 - Information released - Annex A

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