Vágar Airport ( fo, Vága Floghavn) is the only airport in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, and is located east of the village of Sørvágur, on the island of

Vágar Vágar ( da, Vågø) is one of the 18 islands in the archipelago of the Faroe Islands and the most westerly of the ''large islands''. With a size of , it ranks number three, behind Streymoy and Eysturoy. Vágar region also comprises the island ...

. Due to the Faroe Islands' status as a self-governing territory, the airport is not subject to the rules of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. It is the main operating base for Faroese national airline

Atlantic Airways Atlantic Airways (, Faroese: Atlantsflog) is the national airline of the Faroe Islands, operating domestic helicopter services and international passenger services as well as search and rescue responsibilities from its base at Vágar Airport, ...

and, for a brief period during 2006, was also the base for the low-cost airline

FaroeJet FaroeJet was an airline based in Vágar Airport on the island of Vágar of Faroe Islands. It was the second airline of Faroe Islands, the other one being Atlantic Airways. The airline ceased all operations on December 15, 2006, because of financ ...

History

Early years

The airport was built by British Army

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

on the island of

; the site was known as RAF Vagar/Vaagar (Royal Air Force). The site was chosen mainly because it was hard to see from the surrounding waters and any potential German warship. The first aeroplane landed here in Autumn 1942. ''(See

British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II The British occupation of the Faroe Islands during World War II, also known as Operation Valentine, was implemented immediately following the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. It was a small component of the roles of Nordic countries in Wo ...

).'' British engineers had similarly first built Reykjavík Airport in Iceland in 1940, then known as

RAF Reykjavik Royal Air Force Station Reykjavik or more simply RAF Reykjavik is a former Royal Air Force station, at Reykjavík Airport, Iceland. Beginnings The station was built in 1940 by the British Army and used by the Royal Air Force from March 1941 a ...

, following the British

Occupation of Iceland The Allied occupation of Iceland during World War II began with a British invasion intent on occupying and denying Iceland to Germany. The military operation, codenamed Operation Fork, was conducted by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. In tim ...

. After the war, Vágar airfield was abandoned and left unused until 1963, when it was reopened as a civilian airport at the initiative of two Sørvágur residents, Hugo Fjørðoy and Lars Larsen. The two worked with the Icelandic airline

Icelandair Icelandair is the flag carrier airline of Iceland, with its corporate head office on the property of Reykjavík Airport in the capital city Reykjavik. Linked from here It is part of the Icelandair Group and operates to destinations on both si ...

, which began the scheduled flights to

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

using a

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

aircraft. In 1964 a separate airline, Faroe Airways, operated flights, first using chartered aircraft but in 1965 they bought a DC-3 from the Swedish airline

Linjeflyg Linjeflyg was a Swedish domestic airline, formed in 1957 as a domestic subsidiary by Scandinavian Airlines System and Airtaco as well as by newspaper publishers Dagens Nyheter AB and Stockholms-Tidningen AB. History Airtaco (founded in August ...

. The company ceased operating on 28 September 1967. In 1971, Icelandair was operating

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...

jetliners into the airport with weekly nonstop service to Glasgow and Reykjavik. In 1988,

was flying

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

BAe 146-200 jet service nonstop to Copenhagen. Until 2004

Maersk Air (), also known simply as Maersk (), is a Danish shipping company, active in ocean and inland freight transportation and associated services, such as supply chain management and port operation. Maersk was the largest container shipping line a ...

also operated flights into the airport. Maersk Air flew Boeing 737-500 jetliners into the airport with service to Copenhagen.http://www.airliners.net, photo of Maersk Air Boeing 737-500 at Vagar Airport

Development since the 2000s

Until 2002 travel from the airport to most locations in the Faroe Islands including the capital

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

required a car ferry, but since the

Vágatunnilin The Vágatunnilin (Vágar Tunnel) is a long undersea road tunnel in the Faroe Islands. It goes under Vestmannasund strait and connects the two islands of Streymoy and Vágar. The tunnel was the first sub-sea tunnel in the Faroe Islands, an ...

, a tolled road tunnel, was opened in 2002, travel has been made much easier by giving direct road access to the neighbouring island of

Streymoy Streymoy ( da, Strømø) is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn, is located on its southeast coast. The name means "island of currents". It also refers to the largest region of the country that also i ...

, where Tórshavn is located. A new airport terminal opened on 17 June 2014 with increased passenger capacity. The runway was extended from to in 2011, allowing a greater variety of aircraft types to be used, and further-away destinations to be introduced. Construction work started in May 2010, and on 3 December 2011, the extended runway was opened and put into use for the first time. Previously, jet aircraft with short airfield performance such as the

BAe 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Manufacture by Avro International ...

(which ceased to be produced 2001) were preferred for use into the airport (although

operated flights with Boeing 737-500 aircraft), and then the most distant destination was Copenhagen, . The Airbus A319 of Atlantic Airways is able to utilise the extended runway, and services with this type with Atlantic Airways began in March 2012. Tourist summer flights to Barcelona and Milan were introduced. However, in 2014 they decided to stop the routes to Milan and to London. Instead, they chose to fly to Mallorca and to Aberdeen, later changed to Edinburgh, and in 2017 to Gran Canaria. On 26 March 2016,

Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...

(SAS) began to fly from Copenhagen to Vágar, the first airline other than Atlantic to do so in many years. SAS has had trouble with fog landings which caused cancellations. But in February 2019 SAS started using the Required Navigation Performance procedure, which allows landings in more fog, but requires special onboard equipment, pilot training and approval from the aviation administration. Atlantic Airways began using the system in 2012 as first airline in Europe. The airport is currently managed by the

Danish Transport Authority The Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority ( da, Trafikstyrelsen) is the Danish government agency responsible for regulating, planning and safety relating to public transport in Denmark. The agency also acts as an advisor towards the ministry ...

, although the ownership of the airport was handed over to the Faroese government in May 2007.

Airlines and destinations

The airlines in the table below offer regular passenger scheduled and seasonal flights at Vágar Airport. There are occasional public charter flights operated by major European airlines, e.g. Wizzair and Austrian Airlines, for example for supporters to football qualification matches. There are also fairly frequent corporate charter flights (seats not available to public) done by e.g. Widerøe. The extended runway and better instrument landing system has made it easier for airlines other than Atlantic Airways to land at Vágar.

Ground transport

There are bus services about 10 times each direction per day between the airport and Tórshavn. They take one hour. The road distance to Tórshavn is . The "

" tunnel () connects the airport and the

island to the main towns and villages in the Faroe Islands.

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

*26 September 1970: a

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

, with registration TF-FIL, from Flugfélag Íslands on flight from

to Vágar Airport, crashed in bad weather on Mykines. The captain and 7 passengers, all seated on the left side of the plane, were killed. 26 passengers and crew survived, some with serious injuries. Three passengers hiked for an hour to reach Mykines village to alert the authorities. Most of the villagers went up the mountain to aid the survivors before the arrival of the Danish patrol vessel F348 ''Hvidbjørnen''. A marble memorial was placed in the church. *25 January 1975: a Fokker F27 aircraft registered as OY-APB attempted to land on a wet and icy runway. Without having been informed of the conditions, the pilots veered the aircraft off the runway and collided with terrain. *6 July 1987: a

Partenavia P.68 The Partenavia P.68, now Vulcanair P68, is a light aircraft designed by Luigi Pascale and initially built by Italian Partenavia. It made its first flight on 25 May 1970, its type certification was granted on 17 November 1971 and was transferred ...

aircraft registered as G-SPOT, operated by Octavia Air, crashed on approach to Vágar Airport in poor weather conditions and limited visibility. The aircraft struck a rocky face (150 metres high) located 15 km southwest from the airport. All three occupants were killed. *3 August 1996: a Gulfstream III of the

Danish Air Force The Royal Danish Air Force ( da, Flyvevåbnet, lit=The Flying weapon) (RDAF) is the aerial warfare force of The Kingdom of Denmark and one of the four branches of the Danish Defence. Initially being components of the Army and the Navy, it was ...

crashed during

final approach In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of ...

to Vágar Airport in bad weather and poor visibility. Extreme atmospheric turbulences caused the pilots to lose control; the aircraft suddenly rolled 180 degrees and crashed on the slope of a mountain located 2 km short of runway (near Selvík stream, west of Sørvágur ). Nine people, including the Danish Chief of Defence

Jørgen Garde Hans Jørgen Garde (22 January 1939 in Frederiksberg – 3 August 1996 on Vágar, Faroe Islands) was a Danish admiral. Garde was the Danish Chief of Defence from 1 April 1996 until his death. Garde died when the Gulfstream III he was travelling ...

and his wife, perished as the aircraft collided with high terrain surrounding the airport.

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vagar Airport Airports in the Faroe Islands Vágar Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in the Faroe Islands Civilian airports with RAF origins International airports in Denmark