Wick Airport

"EGPC" redirects here. For the Egyptian national oil company, see Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.

Wick John O' Groats Airport
IATA: WIC ICAO: EGPC
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Highlands and Islands Airports Limited
Serves	Wick, Caithness
Location	Wick, Scotland, UK
Elevation AMSL	126 ft / 38 m
Coordinates	58°27′32″N 003°05′35″W
Website	hial.co.uk
Map
EGPC Location in Highland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 13/31 1,825 5,988 Grooved Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers 12,712 Passenger change 2018-19 27.6% Aircraft movements 4,064 Movements change 2018–19 0.1%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

Wick John O' Groats Airport (IATA: WIC, ICAO: EGPC) is located 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) north of the town of Wick, at the north-eastern extremity of the mainland of Scotland. It is owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. The airport used to provided commercial air travel connections for Caithness, with scheduled services to Aberdeen Airport and Edinburgh Airport. It remains regularly used by helicopters servicing local offshore oil operations and the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm. It also serves as a stop-over for light aircraft ferry flights between Europe and North America via Iceland.

History

Wick was originally a grass airfield, used by Captain E. E. Fresson's Highland Airways Ltd. (later Scottish Airways Ltd.) from 1933 until 1939.

Requisitioned by the Air Ministry during World War II, the airfield was extended with hard runways, hangars, and other buildings. The airfield was administered by No. 18 Group, RAF Coastal Command. A satellite airfield existed at RAF Skitten.

On 21 May 1941, a photographic reconnaissance Supermarine Spitfire piloted by Flying Officer Michael F. Suckling took off from Wick, and flew to Norway, in search of the German battleship Bismarck. If Bismarck was to break out into the North Atlantic, she would present a significant risk to the ships supplying Britain. 320 miles to the east of Wick, F/O Suckling found and photographed her, hiding in Grimstadfjord. This information enabled the Royal Navy to order HMS Hood and other ships, as well as aircraft, to take positions intended to track Bismarck, and prevent her from entering the North Atlantic. In ensuing battles, Hood was sunk, and, later, Bismarck.

German battleships and battle cruisers never again entered the North Atlantic, partly because of continual reconnaissance flights by the RAF of German naval activity. Many of these flights originated at Wick. On 5 March 1942, RAF reconnaissance pilot Sandy Gunn (a native of Auchterarder, Perthshire), was shot down in his Spitfire on a flight from Wick over German naval installations in Norway. He survived and became a prisoner of war, but two years later he was executed after participating in the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III.

Airlines and destinations

LoganAir operated regular flights from Wick between 1976 and 2020, with the final flight to Edinburgh departing on 27 March 2020. On 19 June 2020, Eastern Airways removed Wick from its network, leaving the airport with no scheduled services.

Statistics

Busiest routes to and from Wick Airport in 2019

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	2018-19 Change
1	Edinburgh Airport	7,395	21%
2	Aberdeen Airport	5,317	32%

Busiest routes to and from Wick Airport in 2018

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	2017-2018 change
1	Edinburgh Airport	9,341	16.2%
2	Aberdeen Airport	7,775	13.0%

References

• Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Tonbridge, Kent: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1980. ISBN 0-85130-083-9.

External links

Media related to Wick Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Map sources for Wick Airport
• Facebook page