Foula Airfield is an

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

located on the remote island of

Foula Foula (; sco, also Foola; nrn, Fuglø), located in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, is one of the United Kingdom’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island wa ...

, part of the Shetland Islands in the north of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

History

The airstrip opened in the 1970s and is run by the Foula Airstrip Trust, Scottish charity number SC021728. Foula is also served by a ferry service running three times a week but it is claimed that tourists prefer the short flight to the 135 minute ferry crossing. Also, the ferry is based on Foula, so a day trip to the island is only possible by air. The flights are used to transport essentials such as medical prescriptions to the island, which has a population of 38. The airfield also provides the island's only public toilet and telephone.

Airline and destination

Foula is served by a PSO service from

Tingwall Airport Tingwall Airport , also known as Lerwick/Tingwall Airport, is located in the Tingwall valley, near the village of Gott, northwest of Lerwick in Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. Although it is the nearest airport to Lerwick, it is not Shetland's ...

run by Airtask Group and funded by

Shetland Islands Council The Shetland Islands Council ( sco, Shetland Islands Cooncil; gd, Comhairle Shealtainn) is the local authority for Shetland, Scotland. It was established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and is the successor to the former Lerwick Tow ...

. The service uses a

Britten Norman Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

aircraft and runs 7 times a week in winter and 13 times a week in summer, with a flying time of 15 minutes. Flights are heavily weather dependent due to fog and crosswind.

Accidents and incidents

In June 2014 flights were suspended as it was believed that the airfield's insurance was not suitable following the closure of the island's fire station in 2012. Flights have since resumed.

References

{{Airports in Scotland Airports in Shetland Foula