British Airways flights between Inverness and Heathrow are operating for the first time in almost 20 years.
The daily service between the two airports resumed on Tuesday after BA ended the service in 1997.
The move has been hailed as a boost to the area's economy and tourism industry.
BA sales manager Keith Chuter said: "We appreciate that the local business community has lobbied long and hard for British Airways to resume services to Inverness as an important element in boosting the economy of the city and the region as a whole.
"The arrival this morning of BA1468 from Heathrow marks an important day for everyone involved.
"I know that the business community and the people in the region are delighted that British Airways has returned to Inverness. So are we."
The new route has been welcomed by the national tourism body and by the business community in Inverness and the surrounding area.
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive at VisitScotland, said: "This new route tees up a fantastic opportunity for visitors from London and the South East - an important target market - to fly directly into the heart of the Highlands where they can explore the stunning landscapes of the North Coast 500, test their swing at one of the many world-class golf courses, such as Scottish Open hosts, Castle Stuart, and sample the spirit of Scotland on a whisky trail."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here