fjencl
I think so. It has always been disadvantaged due to it being on the “mainland” so not seen as being as worthy of a subsidy like the islands (or Campbeltown).
A local joke was “How do you increase tourism to Caithness? Sink the Ola”. (that was St. Ola, the ferry to Orkney!).
When I lived there Gill Air operated three times a day to Aberdeen, Mondays to Fridays.
Loganair flew to Lerwick, Kirkwall, Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh. None of it was subsidised.