Hial manages Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick.

BBC: Scottish airports firm looks to Norway's winter tactics

Officers drafted the responses following public meetings on Barra and Benbecula and in Tarbert and Stornoway.

BBC: Council urges caution on slowing isles' mainland links

There are facilities on Benbecula, North and South Uist and a radar station on Hirta in St Kilda.

BBC: Luff praises Hebrides contribution to Libya operations

It operates and manages 11 airports at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Islay, Inverness, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick.

BBC: Weather boosts Highlands and Islands airports

Tiree and Benbecula recorded a drop of 4.7% and 5.2% respectively, while at Campbeltown, passenger numbers fell by 0.1%.

BBC: More passengers at Dundee as HIAL airports see growth

Hedgehogs were introduced to the Western Isles in the 1970s and efforts have been made over the past decade to remove them from North Uist and Benbecula.

BBC: Hedgehogs may have returned to cleared areas of Hebrides

"If it had been a crofters' buyout, like at Assynt, I would have been all for it, " says Angus MacDonald, who has a large croft near Benbecula airport.

BBC: NEWS | Business | Islands abuzz with land-grab plans

Discussions are currently under way over what would be the most ambitious buyout so far, the planned purchase of 93, 000 acres - Scotland's 12th-largest estate - on Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay.

BBC: NEWS | Business | Islands abuzz with land-grab plans

But if the aircraft in question, known as Trumper, Piper and Laima, make it to Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, as their owners hope, they will be the first pilotless planes to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean and landed safely.

ECONOMIST: Robots in the cockpit