Transport / Air discount scheme bill tops £13m
THE SCOTTISH Government spent nearly £13.5 million on the Air Discount Scheme (ADS) in the last financial year.
However a government minister has confirmed that any extension of the scheme is “unaffordable at this time”.
Agriculture and connectivity minister Jim Fairlie also reiterated in response to a parliamentary question from Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart that ministers have no plans to reintroduce business travel under the scheme.
The ADS scheme, which was introduced in 2006 when Tavish Scott was transport minister, offers a 50 per cent discount on core air fares for people resident in Colonsay, Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles, Islay, Jura, Caithness and parts of Sutherland.
Among those not eligible are people travelling for the purpose of business, and patients on NHS-funded trips. Business-related travel used to be in the scheme until it was removed in the early 2010s.
A freedom of information request from Shetland News highlights that the ADS scheme cost the Scottish Government a total of £13,476,461 in 2024/25.
This included just over £13.1 million in reimbursements to airlines, and more than £325,000 in admin costs.
During the year there was also around £27,100 reclaimed from “misuse” of the scheme.
In 2023/24 the total cost was around £12.63 million, while in 2022/23 it amounted to around £8 million but the figures include a repayment from Loganair for a £2 million Covid loan.
Although the scheme is set to run through to the end of March, it has always been renewed – with the last extension covering the five years between 2021 and 2026.
Meanwhile a Transport Scotland aviation statement, published in 2024, pledged a review of the scheme to “consider how it could be made fairer and more effective, and to ensure it is providing value for money”.
Fairlie said earlier this year that ministers are currently considering the scope and structure of a review of the ADS scheme, “including how the views of stakeholders can best be taken into account”.
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