| 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 | |||
| Website | |||
| 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[1] | |||
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[1] 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.
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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.
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. [2] 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 and London in the United Kingdom, Narsarsuaq in Greenland 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 take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft such as the BAe 146 can use the airport.[3]
The runway currently has a length of 1250m. There is an ongoing project to extend it to 1799m and to build a new terminal. This will increase the regularity, allow more plane types to be used, and attract more airlines. [4] Construction work started in May 2010, and on December 3rd, 2011, the extended runway was opened and put into use for the first time. [5]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Atlantic Airways | Billund, Copenhagen, Reykjavík-City Summer: Aalborg, Bergen, London-Stansted |
| 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.
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.