Vágar airport
| Vágar Airport | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EKVG |
| IATA code | FAE |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 85 m (279 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 1.5 km east of Sørvágur |
| Street | Landstrasse 40 |
| Local transport | Bus route 300 Strandfaraskip Landsins |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1942 (military) / 1963 (civil) |
| operator | Statens Luftfartsvæsen |
| Terminals | 1 |
| Passengers | 424,281 (2019) |
| Air freight | 1,228.1 t (2019) |
| Flight movements |
5,649 (2019) |
| Start-and runway | |
| 12/30 | 1799 m × 30 m asphalt |
.JPG)
The Vagar Airport ( Faroese Vága Floghavn , IATA code : FAE , ICAO code : EKVG ) is the only airport of the Faroe Islands and as a commercial airport near the international ferry traffic with the Norröna one of the gates to the outside world. It is located on the western island of Vágar and is home to the Faroese airline Atlantic Airways . The next place with shopping and accommodation is Sørvágur (1.5 km to the west).
history
The airport was created during the British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II from 1940. The officer Leo Maxton was busy from 1941 to find a suitable place for an airport. His choice fell on Vágar, where there is a sufficiently large flat area and a convenient approach path. The first plane landed here in autumn 1942. Originally two intersecting runways were planned, but in 1943 the strategic location in the North Atlantic changed so that one runway remained. After the war, the airport was transferred to Løgting .
In addition, the inland lake Sørvágsvatn to the east was also used as a water airport. Most recently in 2005 it was used to ditch a seaplane whose landing gear did not extend.
The airport was initially shut down at the end of the war and only reopened in 1963 on the private initiative of Hugo Fjørðoy and Lars Larsen from the neighboring town of Sørvágur. The two cooperated with the Icelandic airline Icelandair , which started to fly the route Reykjavík -Vágar- Bergen - Copenhagen twice a week with a DC-3 . Another line flew to Glasgow and back. That was the beginning for the Faroese to undertake air travel from their archipelago for the first time.
The concession was taken over by the Danish airline Mærsk Air in the following years . Since 1988, it competed with the local Atlantic Airways , which led to a reduction in flight prices. With the Vágar tunnel , the car or bus journey to the capital Tórshavn has been shortened by one hour to around one hour (bus approx. 55 min) since 2002 . Maersk suspended its Faroe Islands flights in late 2004 because they made the tactical mistake of not offering bonus points as Atlantic Airways did. In 2006, the latter had a competitor again, this time a local one, namely the private FaroeJet , which flew daily to Copenhagen with one plane and had to file for bankruptcy at the end of the year.
With the signing of the Takeover Act on April 4, 2005, the airport of Denmark became the property of the Faroese state.
In autumn 2016, the Scandinavian airline SAS announced that it would be flying to Vágar airport from Copenhagen once a day from the end of March 2017.
Development of the number of travelers
Since Atlantic Airways began operating in the late 1980s, the number of travelers has increased steadily. In 2006 the two hundred thousand mark was passed for the first time and in 2015 three times as many travel customers were transported as 25 years earlier.
| year | Number of passengers |
|---|---|
| 1988 | 108,448 |
| 1990 | 92.167 |
| 1992 | 94,319 |
| 1994 | 90,945 |
| 1996 | 109,698 |
| 1998 | 121,847 |
| 2000 | 143.208 |
| 2002 | 156,895 |
| 2004 | 166,333 |
| 2006 | 208.254 |
| 2008 | 221,942 |
| 2010 | 199,988 |
| 2012 | 225,532 |
| 2014 | 250.287 |
| 2015 | 276,385 |
| 2017 | 341,388 |
| 2018 | 377.813 |
| 2019 | 424.281 |
Destinations
As of March 2019, Atlantic Airways is offering flights from Vágar - partly seasonal - to:
- Keflavik (KEF)
- Bergen (BGO)
- Aalborg (AAL)
- Billund (BLL)
- Copenhagen (CPH)
- Edinburgh (EDI)
- Paris (CDG)
- Barcelona (BCN)
- Palma de Mallorca (PMI)
- Gran Canaria (LPA)
Domestic helicopter flights
Atlantic Airways owns two Bell helicopters: a Bell 212 and a Bell 412 . In addition to transporting people to the most remote villages, they are also involved in Search and Rescue (SAR) operations. In that case, in addition to the two pilots, they take a winch man and a rescue diver with them. A tragic accident occurred in the 1990s when a helicopter crashed into a mountain after an SAR mission from Klaksvík to Tórshavn . All crew members were killed.
The scheduled flights take place three times a week. Reservations are required.
Climate diagram
| Vágar Airport 1968–1997 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day temperature (° C) | 4.8 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 6.4 | 8.8 | 10.8 | 12.1 | 12.3 | 10.4 | 8.6 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 8.0 |
| Average temperature (° C) | 2.7 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 6.6 | 8.7 | 10.2 | 10.4 | 8.6 | 6.8 | 4.2 | 3.3 | 6.0 |
| Night temperature (° C) | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 4.4 | 6.6 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 6.7 | 4.8 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| Precipitation (mm) | 163 | 122 | 141 | 120 | 83 | 81 | 115 | 133 | 151 | 164 | 140 | 142 | 1555 |
| Precipitation days | 23 | 19th | 21st | 18th | 13 | 11 | 15th | 18th | 19th | 20th | 18th | 20th | 215 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Statistic. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
- ↑ SAS kemur at flúgva uppá Føroyar (Faroese), on jn.fo on October 11, 2016
- ↑ a b Ferðafólkatalið fleirfaldað síðan kapping kom ( Memento from October 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (Faroese) on dimma.fo on October 17, 2016
- ^ Atlantic Airways - Route Map. Atlantic Airways, accessed March 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Dansk Meteorologisk Institut (DMI.dk) ( Memento from June 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Danish, English) at www.dmi.dkl
Web links
- Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )
- Airport data in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
- Vága Floghavn (English, Faroese) , airport homepage
