EASTERN Airways invoked the spirit of the Scottish Highlands when the company celebrated the launch of new business shuttle services which link Manchester with Inverness and Dundee.

Aboard the inaugural flight from Inverness were 'Braveheart' warrior Gordon MacIntyre in full clan regalia, David Stewart, Labour MP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, and top chef Charles Lockley, who produced a fresh Scottish salmon as a gift to the city of Manchester.

They were met off the plane by representatives of Manchester Airport and Eastern Airways and the party then headed to Manchester's first elevated restaurant, the Le Mont at Urbis, Cathedral Gardens, where Mr Lockley, from the award-winning Boath House Hotel, near Auldearn in Invernessshire, prepared the salmon for a celebratory lunch.

The Manchester-Dundee and Manchester-Inverness services are designed for business travellers and operate three times a day each way from Monday to Friday.

Eastern Airways is operating them through a codeshare agreement with bmi, allowing passengers to book through tickets from Dundee and Inverness to the vast range of onward destinations served by bmi from Manchester.

The journey time between Manchester and Dundee is 80 minutes and the Manchester-Inverness route takes 95 minutes.

Eastern Airways, which operates from Terminal 3 of Manchester Airport, has launched the services using an 18-seat BAE Jetstream 32 aircraft. The airline also runs a

Manchester-Norwich service.

Cllr Brian Harrison, Chairman of Manchester Airport, said: "Business travellers are an important part of our customer base and their needs differ from those of holiday and leisure passengers. They want frequent services timed around their working day."

"That is exactly what Eastern Airways is offering with these new routes and we are sure they will prove very successful."

Eastern Airways Managing Director Richard Lake said: "It has long been our wish to start these services from Inverness and Dundee to Manchester, the UK's third largest airport.

"We are starting these flights in response to passenger demand."