Vágar Airport

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Vágar Airport Vága Floghavn Vágar Lufthavn
Atlantic Airways Avro RJ at Vágar Airport
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′37″W / 62.06361, -7.27694
Website		www.floghavn.fo
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	m	ft	Surface
13/31	1,250	4,101	Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Passengers			219329
Source: DAFIF^[1]^[2]

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

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 Denmark. 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.

1 History
2 Today
3 Airlines and destinations
4 Ground transport
5 Accidents and incidents
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

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. (See British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II).

[edit] 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.

On May 1st, 2007, the airport was handed over to Faroese control by the Danish Civil Aviation Authority.^[3] There are proposals to expand the airport and lengthen the runway.

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, London and Sumburgh (Shetland) in the United Kingdom, and Oslo and Stavanger in Norway. At present, due to the short length of the runway, it has transverse grooves to improve braking action. Furthermore, emergency turn-off areas, close to each end of the runway, with broken stones have been established. Damage to aircraft using the areas may be expected. The short runway means that only short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft such as the BAe 146 can use the airport.^[4]

[edit] Airlines and destinations

Air Iceland (Reykjavík)
Atlantic Airways (Aalborg, Aberdeen, Billund, Copenhagen, London-Stansted, Narsarsuaq, Oslo, Reykjavík, Shetland Islands, Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda ([begins summer 2008])
Atlantic Airways, helicopter service (Dímun, Froðba, Hattarvík, Kirkja, Klaksvík, Koltur, Mykines, Skúvoy, Svínoy, Tórshavn)

The helicopter services go to islands off the main islands and also make landings in the biggest towns. Some of these islands have less than 10 inhabitants.

[edit] Ground transport

There are bus services about 10 times each direction per day between the airport and Tórshavn. They take one hour. The tunnel "Vágatunnilin" (4,9 km) connects the airport and the Vágar island to the main cities and villages in the Faroe islands.

[edit] Accidents and incidents

On 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 Defense and his wife, perished as the aircraft collided with high terrain surrounding the airport.