Airport type Public Website Sumburgh Airport 1,426 4,678 Code LSI Phone +44 1950 461000 | Elevation AMSL 21 ft / 6 m 15/33 1,426 Elevation 6 m | |
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Owner/operator Highlands and Islands Airports (HIAL) | ||
Leaving shetland taking off from sumburgh airport
Sumburgh Airport (IATA: LSI, ICAO: EGPB) is the main airport serving Shetland in Scotland. It is located on the southern tip of the mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, 17 NM (31 km; 20 mi) south of Lerwick. The airport is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) and served by Loganair (under franchise to Flybe).
Contents
- Leaving shetland taking off from sumburgh airport
- Extreme headwind landing saab 340 of flybe at sumburgh airport shetland
- History
- Other tenants
- Ground transport
- Incidents and accidents
- References
The airport is unusual in that it has a 550 m (1,804 ft) helicopter runway as opposed to usual helipad. The western end of runway 09 crosses the A970 road between Sumburgh and the northern mainland; access is controlled by a level crossing with barriers closed whenever a flight is taking off or landing.
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 which is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and accountable to Scottish Ministers.
Extreme headwind landing saab 340 of flybe at sumburgh airport shetland
History
Sumburgh Links was surveyed and the grass strips laid out by Capt. E. E. Fresson 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 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 coupled with the proximity of Sumburgh Head. The building of runways was 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 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 800 yd (730 m), and the shorter running a length of 600 yd (550 m) from shore-line to shore-line. No. 404 Squadron operated Beaufighter Mark VI and X aircraft from this station on coastal raids against Axis shipping off the coast of Norway and in the North Sea.
Other tenants
Ground transport
The road distance is 25 miles (40 km) to Lerwick. There is a regular airport bus service that takes passengers there.