Due to unforeseen circumstances, Stornoway Airport will close to air traffic this afternoon (Monday 16^th April) from 15.20 for the remainder of the day. The airport closure today has been required because of the unavailability of air traffic control staff due to short term illness.

This closure will result in the cancellation of five scheduled flights this afternoon between Stornoway and Edinburgh (1), Glasgow (2) and Inverness (2) operated by BA franchise partner Loganair and Highland Airways.

The airport will return to normal operations tomorrow (Tuesday 17^th April).

A spokesman for HIAL said: “Due to unforeseeable staff illness we will have to close Stornoway Airport this afternoon at 15.20. While this is very regrettable we have no other option open to us today. We have informed the airlines of the situation and also apologise for the disruption this will cause to passengers who planned to travel this afternoon.

“Passengers who did plan to travel this afternoon should contact their airline directly for further information.

“Normal operations will resume at Stornoway on Tuesday 17^th April and passengers booked to travel on Tuesday should arrive at the airport as normal.

“Once again, we apologies for the inconvenience caused but would stress that we have no alternative but to close the airport due to the unavailability of air traffic staff today through illness.”