Sumburgh Airport is the main airport serving the island of Shetland, Scotland. It is located on the southern tip of the mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, south of Lerwick. Belfast–City, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kirkwall, Manchester London–Heathrow Kirkwall

thumb|Road crossing of A970 with Sumburgh airport's runway. The movable barrier closes when aircraft land or take off.

Statistics

{|class="wikitable"

|+ Busiest routes to and from Sumburgh (2025)

|-

! Rank || Airport || Total<br />passengers || Change<br />from 2024

|-

|1|| Aberdeen ||align='right'| 128,664 || 2%

|-

|2|| Edinburgh ||align='right'| 40,314 || 9%

|-

|3|| Glasgow ||align='right'| 23,124 || 3%

|-

|4|| Inverness ||align='right'| 9,695 || 38%

|-

|5|| Kirkwall ||align='right'| 6,077 || 108%

|-

|6|| London Heathrow ||align='right'| 2,362 || 28%

|-

|}

Incidents and accidents

  • 10 January 1977: Hawker Siddeley 748 G-AZSU, operated by Dan-Air and flying an unscheduled service from Belfast-Aldergrove, failed to stop in the landing distance available and overshot the runway. The aircraft sustained minor damage when the nose-wheel undercarriage collapsed. There were no injuries.
  • 31 July 1979: Crash of Dan-Air Flight 0034, a Hawker Siddeley 748 series 1 (registration G-BEKF) operating an oil industry support flight. The aircraft failed to become airborne, overshot the runway and continued into the sea. Although 15 passengers and both pilots died, and the aircraft was destroyed, 29 passengers and the flight attendant survived. The accident was due to the elevator gust-lock having become re-engaged, preventing the aircraft from rotating into a flying attitude.
  • 29 March 1981: Potez 840 F-BMCY operated by Club Aéronautique de Paris made a wheels-up landing at Sumburgh. Damage was minimal and the aircraft was parked on a stand for many months. The four Astazou engines and other useful parts were removed and the airframe dragged off to a quiet corner of the airfield to be abandoned. When the runway was extended it was saved and now resides in a private garden in North Roe in the north of Shetland. Only eight Potez 840s were built.
  • 6 November 1986: British International Helicopters Chinook crash. A Boeing 234LR Chinook helicopter crashed east of the airport. Only two people survived, with 45 killed.
  • 11 June 2006 Air Accidents Investigation Branch recommended a safety audit of City Star Airlines after a serious incident in which a Dornier 328 crew flew close to cliffs and failed to respond correctly to terrain warnings on approach to Sumburgh Airport after a flight from Aberdeen. The aircraft landed safely. The captain involved was suspended and asked to resign after an investigation.
  • 23 August 2013: A Super Puma AS332 L2, operated by CHC for Total, carrying 16 passengers and two crew from the Borgsten Dolphin oil platform, crashed about west of the airport at 18:17 BST. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch identified the lack of effective monitoring of flight instruments as a cause of the crash. Four of those aboard were killed.
  • 15 December 2014: Loganair Flight 6780 was a flight from Aberdeen to Shetland, which was struck by lightning during an attempt to land at Sumburgh Airport. The aircraft went in a steep dive before the pilots were able to recover. The flight diverted to Aberdeen.

References

Notes

Citations

  • Sumburgh Airport - official website