Edinburgh Napier University

  Small World Aviation is a new aviation company based at Inverness Airport that will initially serve the Highlands and Islands, with plans for global expansion. The company is focused on becoming "implementation ready" for new aircraft and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft in the future. To support their expansion, the company requires project support with a passenger demand "Route Enablement" analysis tool to determine route demand data for possible new flight routes. The tool will utilise AI and creative data sources, such as mobile phone data, to identify origin and destination pairs and where future infrastructure may need to be added. The “Route Enablement Model” project aims to make connectivity more cost-effective, sustainable, and positively impact the lives of rural communities. The company is interested in sub-regional passenger connectivity, which aligns with their wider service development plans. Outputs may include the viability of new routes, aircraft suitability assessment, flight frequency, timings, pricing, the percentage of traffic migration from current travel methods to air, and carbon savings.