Landing at Britain’s Remotest Airports

In this collection of videos you’ll get to come along for the ride into some of Britain’s remotest airports.

Far away from the hubs of Manchester and London, these are small strips, often on islands, served by essential air links to keep locals connected to the outside world and supplies brought in.

Alderney

The smallest airport in the Channel Islands near the coast of France. This airport can’t cope with larger aircraft like at Guernsey and Jersey, so is usually limited to smaller types.

Benbecula

Out in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, Benbecula is a remote airport served by regional aircraft and often faces bad weather.

Barra

Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland is famous as having the world’s only beach runway which is used for scheduled flights. I flew this route in 2018 and put together this video of the flights to and from Glasgow on the Viking DHC-6-400 Twin Otter.

Scilly Isles

Another remote British airport served by Twin Otter is the Scilly Isles. This route is flown by Skybus from Newquay and Exeter in Cornwall and is popular with tourists. Its runway is on a hump and very short!

Westray and Papa Westray

Famous as the world’s shortest commercial air route, the flight between Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland’s Orkney Islands often takes around a minute to complete! BN Island aircraft are commonly used on the essential link. This video shows an entire flight!

Stornoway

Like Benbecula and Barra, Stornoway is a remote airport serving Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. It is one of the larger airports in the region.

Sumburgh

Sumburgh is at the southern tip of the Shetland Islands – closer to Norway than London! The airport is well equipped to handle flights from Scotland, serving tourists, locals and oil workers.

Have you flown on any of these routes? Leave a comment below!