Foula (FOA): a phone booking from Tingwall, and no way to turn up on spec
Foula is served by Airtask from Tingwall Airport for Shetland Islands Council. Seats are booked by telephone, timetables are seasonal, and the Lerwick end needs a dial-a-ride taxi ordered by 4pm the day before.
- Foula is served from Tingwall Airport near Lerwick, on the Shetland inter-island network.
- Shetland Islands Council provides the service, Airtask Group operates it.
- Seats are booked by telephone on 01595 840246 or by email to lwk.ops@airtask.com.
- Timetables are seasonal, summer from early March to mid October and a shorter winter pattern.
- The aircraft is a Britten-Norman Islander, and Foula's weather is the limiting factor on almost every leg.
- The Tingwall end has no bus. A Dial-A-Ride taxi runs to the Viking Bus Station in Lerwick for each flight.
- That taxi must be booked by 4pm the previous day on 01595 745745, or by the Friday before for Sunday and Monday travel.
- Do not plan a same-day return connection to mainland Scotland. Sumburgh is a separate airport at the other end of the mainland.
- There is no terminal infrastructure to wait in on Foula. This is an airstrip on an inhabited island, not a passenger building.
- Arrange accommodation and a lift before you fly. Nothing meets the aircraft as a matter of course.
- Airtask also flies Shetland's only scenic flights from Tingwall, up to seven passengers.
- Allow spare days. Cancelled island flights can push a departure back significantly.
The service
- Foula lies west of the Shetland mainland and is one of the remotest inhabited islands in Britain. The scheduled air link runs from Tingwall Airport near Lerwick, which Shetland Islands Council operates under a CAA licence.
- Airtask Group flies the service under contract to the council, on Britten-Norman Islander aircraft. Airtask states plainly that it provides scheduled air services between Tingwall and both Foula and Fair Isle.
- Booking is by telephone on 01595 840246 or by email to lwk.ops@airtask.com. There is a summer timetable running from early March to mid October and a winter one covering shorter blocks.
Getting to Tingwall
- There is no scheduled bus to Tingwall. The council runs a Dial-A-Ride taxi between the airport and the Viking Bus Station in Lerwick timed to each flight.
- Book it by 4pm the previous day on 01595 745745. For a Sunday or Monday journey, book by the Friday before. It does not run without a booking.
Do not confuse the two Shetland airports
- Sumburgh (LSI) at the southern tip of the Shetland mainland is where flights from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Kirkwall arrive. Tingwall (LWK) near Lerwick is the inter-island field.
- They are roughly an hour apart by road. A same-day connection between a mainland flight and a Foula flight is possible but tight, and depends on the dial-a-ride taxi being booked in advance at the Tingwall end.
On the island
- Foula's airstrip is exactly that: a strip. There is no terminal to shelter in and nothing meets the aircraft automatically.
- Arrange accommodation and a lift from the strip before you travel, and allow spare days at both ends. Weather cancellations here are routine rather than exceptional.
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