Airport History

From Pioneers to Passengers: Sumburgh Airport’s Journey through Time

Airport operation teams are used to dealing with a range of tasks, but for the team at Sumburgh Airport, managing road traffic is an everyday job which puts them in an unusual position. Located on the southern tip of the Shetland mainland, the airport is one of the northernmost sites owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL). 

Sumburgh Airport is the only airport in the world to have a runway with a road crossing it, managed by a barrier control. This title used to be shared with Gibraltar airport, but thanks to a new road tunnel built to divert traffic there, this has left the Scottish airport with this unique challenge.

The original airfield opened in 1936 with an inaugural flight from Aberdeen, piloted by the aviation pioneer, Captain EE Fresson, who was instrumental in developing the airfield in the years that followed. The new flights that arrived brought about great changes in communication for islanders, enabling them to receive mail and newspapers on the same day, which was previously unheard of.

The early airfield was also one of the first to utilise Radio Direction Finder (RDF) to deal with the low cloud and fog issues which plagued the location, along with its proximity to Sumburgh Head, which is now a bird reserve. Capt. Fresson was a strong advocate for all-year round landing facilities at Sumburgh to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and by 1941 there were three operational runways.

During the Second World War, the airfield was taken over by the Air Ministry and became the base for a number of air squadrons including half of 404 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force. It played a key role in providing support for coastal raids to protect shipping off the coast of Norway and the North Sea.

Scheduled flights continued during the war and in 1946 these increased to include British European Airways with the main runway lengthened in the 1960s. Expansion of the site continued and in the early 1970s, scheduled services from Aberdeen were introduced to connect with helicopter operations to service the oil and gas industry, which evolved out of North Sea hydrocarbon exploration.

Today the airport operates three runways with one, Runway 06/24, dedicated to the busy helicopter traffic. Sumburgh is also used as an operational base by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, providing a maritime and coastal search and rescue emergency coordination and response service. The airport balances its role to support air connectivity for the local community with services to the oil and gas industry, as well as providing logistical support for the growing renewable sector.

Scheduled flights are provided by Loganair to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Kirkwall plus seasonal flights to Bergen with a flight time just one hour. Passengers can also take advantage of flights to Heathrow via Dundee with the return of this route connecting Shetland and Orkney in summer 2023.

In 2017, Humza Yousaf, the then Transport Minister, visited to mark a three-year investment of £7million investment in the airport which included the introduction of larger screening areas, upgrades to the main departure lounge, improvements to the hangars used by the energy sector and refurbishment of the dedicated lounge for offshore workers, alongside the development of a dedicated arrivals hall offering space for suit issue and safety briefings. Improvements were also made to the check-in facilities, creating a larger baggage search area as well as work on the airport fire station and air traffic control tower.

In 2022 a £2.9 million runway rehabilitation project to resurface Runway 06/24 took place, which Andrew described as “protecting future connectivity for Shetland and cementing the airport’s role as a strategic hub for the oil and gas industry.”

The airport has recently welcomed a new café concessionaire, who has also opened a shop offering local gifts, which is proving popular. The ‘West Voe’ Quiet Room, named after a beautiful beach located close to the airport, is another new addition to the airport’s facilities. It provides space for passengers wanting to escape the noise and bustle of the departure lounge and was developed by the airport team in partnership with the Airport Accessibility Users Group.