About HITRANS, the Highland and Islands Transport Partnership
The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS) is the statutory regional transport partnership for Na h-Eileanan Siar, Highland, Moray, Orkney Islands and Argyll and Bute. It was created by Transport Scotland under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, along with six similar groups covering other areas of Scotland. HITRANS covers the largest area of any such partnership in Scotland, covering over 50% of the country's total landmass.
Its main functions are to determine and deliver better transport, both locally and nationally, and to act as a catalyst for regeneration of the region's economy.
HITRANS makes plans through its Regional Strategy, which was first approved by the Scottish Government in 2008. It was later refreshed in 2017.
About SATE
The Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE), part of the UKRI Future Flight Challenge, is the UK’s first operationally based low-carbon aviation test centre, based at Kirkwall Airport on Orkney.
Led by the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS), SATE brings together an international consortium of industry partners, public sector bodies and academia which work with a range of regional businesses and stakeholders to apply state-of-the-art aviation technology to deliver targeted economic growth.
The Highlands and Islands represents an ideal “living laboratory” for emergent aviation technologies, demonstrating their practical applications in addressing connectivity challenges, as well as creating an emerging new sector with significant job creation potential. SATE is at the forefront in progressing both the UK and Scottish government’s aviation aspirations and has already delivered new airport infrastructure and demonstrated hybrid-electric aircraft and autonomous logistics.
The SATE programme aspires to become the UK Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Regional Aviation Systems.
While the SATE facilities are based at Kirkwall Airport, SATE 2 is working with other Highlands & Islands communities and matching the new technology with practical use cases to benefit communities in the Highlands and Islands.
Use cases developed in SATE have been, and will continue to be, supported by Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles and Highland councils. Use case projects from the initial phase include serving the NHS, NatureScot, Orkney Food and Drink, Streamline Shipping and Royal Mail.