Fair Isle (FIE): the flight is from Tingwall, not Sumburgh
Fair Isle is served from Tingwall Airport near Lerwick, operated by Airtask for Shetland Islands Council. Booking is by telephone, and the mainland connection at the Tingwall end is a dial-a-ride taxi ordered the day before.
- Flights to Fair Isle leave from Tingwall Airport near Lerwick, not from Sumburgh.
- Shetland Islands Council provides the service and Airtask Group operates it under contract.
- Book by phone on 01595 840246 or by email to lwk.ops@airtask.com. Timetables are on the Airtask site.
- There are separate summer and winter timetables, and the winter one has gaps of several weeks with no service.
- The aircraft is a Britten-Norman Islander. Weather and wind decide whether it flies.
- At the Tingwall end, the link to Lerwick is a Dial-A-Ride taxi to the Viking Bus Station.
- That taxi must be booked by 4pm the day before on 01595 745745. It does not run unbooked.
- For Sunday or Monday travel, book it by the Friday before.
- The alternative to the plane is the Fair Isle ferry, which the council is replacing with a larger roll-on roll-off vessel.
- Harbour improvement works at Fair Isle have been licensed as part of that project, so expect construction activity.
- Build slack into any onward connection. A missed island flight can mean days, not hours.
- Arrange accommodation before you travel. There is nothing to fall back on if you are stranded.
How you actually get there
- Fair Isle lies between Shetland and Orkney, and the scheduled air service runs from Tingwall Airport near Lerwick. This is the single most common mistake: Sumburgh is the airport for flights to and from mainland Scotland, and it is not where the Fair Isle aircraft leaves from.
- Shetland Islands Council provides the inter-island air services and Airtask Group operates them under contract, on Britten-Norman Islander aircraft.
- Booking is by telephone on 01595 840246 or by email to lwk.ops@airtask.com. Airtask publishes separate summer and winter timetables, and the winter schedule runs in blocks with weeks between them.
The connection at the Tingwall end
- Tingwall has no scheduled bus. The council provides a Dial-A-Ride taxi link between the airport and the Viking Bus Station in Lerwick for each flight.
- It must be booked by 4pm the previous day on 01595 745745, and by the Friday before for a Sunday or Monday journey. Unbooked, it does not run, and Tingwall is not somewhere to be left standing.
The boat
- The Fair Isle ferry is the alternative and the island's lifeline for freight. Shetland Islands Council has a project underway to replace it with a larger vessel offering roll-on roll-off capability and better freight handling, and has been granted marine licences for harbour improvement works at Fair Isle.
- In practice this means the sea route is changing and the harbour is a construction site at times. Check the current position with the council before planning around it.
Planning
- Two connections, both weather dependent, both low frequency. Give yourself a spare day at each end of a trip that has to connect with a flight south, and book a bed on the island before you set off.
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