Vágar Airport

Vágar Airport Vága Floghavn Vágar Lufthavn
IATA: FAE – ICAO: EKVG
Summary
Airport type		Civil
Operator		Civil Aviation Administration
Location		Sørvágur, Faroe Islands
Elevation AMSL		280 ft / 85 m
Coordinates		62°03′49″N 007°16′38″W
Website		www.floghavn.fo
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
13/31	1,799	5,902	Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Passengers			203,662
Movements			4,870
Source: Faroe Islands AIP at EUROCONTROL and

Map of Faroe Islands. Position of the airport marked with the red aeroplane.

Vágar Airport (Faroese: Vága Floghavn, Danish: Vágar Lufthavn) (IATA: FAE, ICAO: EKVG) is the only airport in the Faroe Islands, a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, and is located 1 NM (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) east of Sørvágur. Due to the Faroe Islands' rather anomalous status, the airport is not fully subject to the rules of the European Union. It is the main operating base for Faroese national airline Atlantic Airways and, for a short period during 2006, the low cost airline FaroeJet.

History

Faroe Airways Douglas DC-3

The airport was built by British Royal Engineers during World War II on the island of Vágar. 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).

After the war the 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, which began the scheduled flights to Bergen, Copenhagen and Glasgow using a Douglas DC-3 aircraft. Soon a separate airline, Faroe Airways, operated flights. The company ceased operating on 28 September 1967.

Until 2004 Maersk Air operated some flights in the airport along with Atlantic Air.

The runway was extended from 1250m to 1799m in 2011, allowing more plane types to be used. Construction work started in May 2010, and on December 3rd, 2011, the extended runway was opened and put into use for the first time. Previously only short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft such as the BAe 146 could use the airport.

Today

Since 2002 Vágar has had a toll road connection via a tunnel to the neighbouring island of Streymoy, upon which the Faroese capital Tórshavn is situated.

The airport is currently managed by the Danish Transport Authority although the ownership of the airport was handed over to the Faroese government in May 2007.

A number of domestic Faroese destinations can be reached from Vágar by the Atlantic Airways helicopter service. International destinations include Copenhagen, Aalborg and Billund in Denmark, Reykjavík in Iceland, Aberdeen and London in the United Kingdom, Narsarsuaq in Greenland and Oslo and Stavanger in Norway.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Atlantic Airways	Billund, Copenhagen, Reykjavík-City Summer: Aalborg, Barcelona [begins 17 June], Bergen, London-Gatwick
Atlantic Airways [helicopter]	Dímun, Froðba, Hattarvík, Kirkja, Klaksvík, Koltur, Mykines, Skúvoy, Svínoy, Tórshavn

Helicopter services go to remote islands as well as to the biggest towns. Some of these islands have fewer than 10 inhabitants.

• 

  A Boeing 737 aircraft lands

• 

  Ready for landing

• 

  An arrival from Billund

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  Atlantic Airways Avro RJ at Vágar Airport

Ground transport

There are bus services about 10 times each direction per day between the airport and Tórshavn. They take one hour. The "Vágatunnilin" tunnel (4.9 km) connects the airport and the Vágar island to the main cities and villages in the Faroe islands.

Accidents and incidents

• 3 August 1996: a Gulfstream III (picture) of the Danish Air Force crashed during final approach to Vágar Airport in bad weather and poor visibility. Nine people, including the Chief of Defence Jørgen Garde and his wife, perished as the aircraft collided with high terrain surrounding the airport.
• 1989: an Atlantic Airlines BAe 146 aircraft failed to stop at the end of the runway and was subsequently out of service for 3 weeks.
• 26 September 1970: Icelandair Fokker F27 originating in Copenhagen with a stopover in Bergen Norway. The flight from Bergen to Vágar Airport crashed in bad weather on Mykines. Eight of the 34 passengers lost their lives, and the badly wounded were airlifted away by helicopter. A marble memorial was placed in the Church.

See also

• List of the largest airports in the Nordic countries

External links

• Official website
• Webcam
• Current weather for EKVG at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for FAE at Aviation Safety Network