Sumburgh Airport is the main airport serving

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is located on the southern tip of the

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

, in the parish of

Dunrossness Dunrossness, (Old Norse: ''Dynrastarnes'' meaning "headland of the loud tide-race", referring to the noise of Sumburgh Roost) is the southernmost parish of Shetland, Scotland. Historically the name Dunrossness has usually referred to the area o ...

, south of

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

. The airport is owned by

Highlands and Islands Airports Limited Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is a company based at Inverness Airport that owns and operates 11 airports in the Scottish Highlands, the Northern Isles and the Western Isles. It is a private limited company wholly owned by the ...

(HIAL) and served by

Loganair Loganair is a Scottish regional airline based at Glasgow Airport near Paisley, Scotland. It is the largest regional airline in the UK by passenger numbers and fleet size. In addition to its main base at Glasgow, it has hubs at Aberdeen, Edinb ...

. On 1 April 1995, ownership of the Company transferred from the UK Civil Aviation Authority to the Secretary of State for Scotland and subsequently to the Scottish Ministers. HIAL receives subsidies from the Scottish Ministers in accordance with Section 34 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 and is sponsored by

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland ( gd, Còmhdhail Alba) is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. Organisat ...

which is an

Executive Agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...

of the Scottish Government and accountable to Scottish Ministers.

History

Sumburgh Links was surveyed and the grass strips laid out by Captain

E. E. Fresson Captain Ernest Edmund "Ted" Fresson, (20 September 1891 – 25 September 1963) was a British engineer and aviation pioneer. Life Fresson was sent by his company to China in 1911, but returned to the UK to serve in the Royal Flying Corps during ...

of Highland Airways in 1936: the airport was opened on 3 June of that year with the inaugural flight from Aberdeen (Kintore) by the

De Havilland Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rel ...

G-ACPN piloted by Fresson himself. It was also one of the first airfields to have RDF facilities, due to the frequency of low cloud and fog and the proximity of

Sumburgh Head Sumburgh Head is a headland located at the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland in northern Scotland. The head consists of a 100 m high rocky spur and topped by the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. In the Old Norse language, Sumburgh Head was cal ...

. The runways were built at the instigation of Capt. Fresson, who had proved to the Navy at Hatston (Orkney) that to maintain all-round landing facilities over the winter months runways were essential. This was taken up by the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

after the obvious success of the Hatston experiment. The former RAF Sumburgh airfield had three runways, two of which, although extended, remain in use by the present airport. The longest was originally , and the shorter ran for from shoreline to shoreline. No. 404 Squadron operated

Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...

Mark VI and X aircraft from this station on coastal raids against

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

shipping off the coast of Norway and in the North Sea. The airport is unusual in that it has a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

as opposed to usual

helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...

. The western end of runway 09/27 crosses the

A970 road The A970 is a single-carriageway road that runs from south to north of Mainland Shetland, Scotland. The road also spurs to Scalloway and North Roe North Roe is a village, and List of Special Protection Areas in Scotland, protected area at th ...

between

Sumburgh Sumburgh is a small settlement in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. Sumburgh is located at the south end of the Mainland on Sumburgh Head. Sumburgh Airport is just outside the village to the north. Sumburgh has a population of approximately 100. Ja ...

(including the airport) and the northern mainland; access is controlled by a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

with barriers closed whenever a flight is taking off or landing.

Airlines and destinations

;Notes: * : Some flights to Inverness operate via Kirkwall. * : Flights to London City operate via Dundee. * : Some flights to Aberdeen continue to Manchester & Newquay.

Cargo

Other tenants

Maritime and Coastguard Agency The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom that responsible for implementing British and international maritime law and safety policy. It works to prevent the loss of lives at sea and to prevent marine ...

(

Her Majesty's Coastguard His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...

) * Bristow Helicopters *

Babcock Mission Critical Services Offshore Offshore Helicopter Services (OHS) (known as Bond Offshore Helicopters until April 2016) is a British helicopter operator, specialising in providing offshore helicopter transportation services to North Sea and Irish Sea oil and gas platforms. C ...

(SAR and crew change operations)

Ground transport

The airport is located by road from Lerwick. Bus service 6, operated by J&DS Halcrow, provides a regular link between the airport and the town seven days per week.

Statistics

Incidents and accidents

*10 January 1977:

Hawker Siddeley 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption by Hawker Siddeley. ...

G-AZSU, operated by

Dan-Air Dan-Air (Dan Air Services Limited) was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London shipbroker, shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, it operated cargo a ...

and flying an unscheduled service from Belfast-Aldergrove, failed to stop in the landing distance available and overshot the runway. The aircraft sustained minor damage when the nose-wheel undercarriage collapsed. There were no injuries. *31 July 1979: Crash of

Dan-Air Flight 0034 Dan-Air Flight 0034 was a fatal accident involving a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 series 1 turboprop aircraft operated by Dan-Air Services Limited on an oil industry charter flight from Sumburgh Airport, Shetland Islands, to Aberdeen Airport. Th ...

, a Hawker Siddeley 748 series 1 (registration G-BEKF) operating an oil industry support flight. The aircraft failed to become airborne and crashed into the sea. The accident was due to the elevator gust-lock having become re-engaged, preventing the aircraft from rotating into a flying attitude. The aircraft was destroyed and 17 people died. *29 March 1981:

Potez 840 The Potez 840 was a 1960s French four-engined 18-passenger executive monoplane, the last aircraft to use the Potez name. Development The Potez 840 was an all-metal cantilever-wing monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear. It had a cre ...

F-BMCY operated by Club Aéronautique de Paris made a wheels-up landing at Sumburgh. Damage was minimal and the aircraft was parked on a stand for many months. The four Astazou engines and other useful parts were removed and the airframe dragged off to a quiet corner of the airfield to be abandoned. When the runway was extended it was saved and now resides in a private garden in North Roe in the north of Shetland. Only 8 Potez 840s were built. *6 November 1986: British International Helicopters Chinook crash. A Boeing 234LR Chinook helicopter crashed east of the airport. Only two people survived with 45 lives being lost. *11 June 2006

Air Accidents Investigation Branch The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident Investigation Authority (SAIA) ...

recommended a safety audit of

City Star Airlines City Star Airlines (CSA) was an airline based in Aberdeen, Scotland. It operated under the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) of Landsflug in Iceland. Its main service was scheduled services between energy industry centres in Scotland and Norway, a ...

after a serious incident in which a

Dornier 328 The Dornier 328 is a turboprop-powered commuter airliner. Initially produced by Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, the firm was acquired in 1996 by Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffe ...

crew flew close to cliffs and failed to respond correctly to terrain warnings on approach to Sumburgh Airport after a flight from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. The aircraft landed safely. The captain involved was suspended and asked to resign after an investigation. *23 August 2013: A Super Puma AS332 L2, operated by CHC for Total, carrying 16 passengers and 2 crew from the Borgsten Dolphin oil platform, crashed about west of the airport at 18:17 BST. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch identified the lack of effective monitoring of flight instruments as a cause of the crash. Four of those aboard were killed. *15 December 2014: Loganair Flight 6780 was a flight from Aberdeen to Shetland, which was struck by lightning during an attempt to land at Sumburgh Airport. The aircraft went in a steep dive before the pilots were able to recover. The flight diverted to Aberdeen.Aircraft Accident Report 2/2016
AAIB.

References

External links

Sumburgh Airport - Official websiteIllustrated entry in ShetlopediaPhotographs of aircraft at Sumburgh AirportInformation on World War II aircraft that crashed in and around Shetland
{{Airports in the United Kingdom Airports in Shetland Airports established in 1936 1936 establishments in Scotland Highlands and Islands Airports Mainland, Shetland