Vestmannaeyjar Airport ( is, Vestmannaeyjaflugvöllur ) is a two-runway
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
on the island of
Heimaey
Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isla ...
, in
Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands), a small
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
off the south coast of
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
. It is also known as Westman Islands Airport.
Operations
Air Iceland Connect
Air Iceland Connect, formerly Flugfélag Íslands, was a regional airline with its head office at Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík, Iceland. It operates scheduled services under the brand of its parent company, Icelandair, to domestic destinatio ...
flew multiple daily flights to
Reykjavík Airport before it ended all scheduled activity on 3 August 2010. The main carrier is now
Eagle Air.
Vestmannaeyjar Airport previously had private flights to
Bakki Airport
Bakki Airport is an airport on the southern coast of Iceland, used mainly for short-haul flights to and from the Westman Islands.
Statistics Passengers and movements
See also
* Transport in Iceland
* List of airports in Iceland
This is a ...
on the southern coast of Iceland, taking approximately 7 minutes (depending on the weather); the scheduled flights to Reykjavík Airport takes 25 minutes.
History
During
Eldfell
Eldfell is a volcanic cone just over high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. It formed in a volcanic eruption, which began without warning on the eastern side of Heimaey, in the Westman Islands, on 23 January 1973. The name means ''Hill of Fir ...
's volcanic eruption in 1973, Vestmannaeyjar Airport served as an evacuation point for elderly and patients from the hospital who could not evacuate by boat. After the eruption was over, the
tephra
Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism.
Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they rem ...
provided suitable materials to extend the runways.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Passengers and movements
Notes
References
External links
*
Airports in Iceland
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
{{Iceland-transport-stub