Highlands and Islands Airport's Annual Report (3MB pdf - Scottish ...

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Nigel Flaws
Airport Manager, Sumburgh
Sumburgh
The airport is located 25 miles South
of Lerwick, the islands main centre of
population. There are up to 10 scheduled
flights per day to Inverness, Aberdeen,
Glasgow, Edinburgh and Kirkwall. The
petroleum industry (oil and gas) is the key
revenue earner for the Shetland Islands
and in autumn 2010 a CHC helicopter
was based at Sumburgh to fly workers
off-shore to a drill ship working in the far
North of the British sector. A weekly return
charter from Knock transports contractors
for the building of the roads infrastructure
to support the new gas terminal at
Sullom Voe.
The new partnership with Inverness Airport offers Royal Mail a
fantastic opportunity to further improve our operations and to
enhance the already high level of service we provide to our customers
in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. We very much look forward
to working with the team at Inverness Airport to achieve that goal.
David Hawkins, Head of Air Network, Royal Mail
A recent development for Sumburgh
is a partnership project with Highlands
& Islands Fire & Rescue Service to build
a new state of the art fire training facility.
This is primarily to provide Compartment
Fire Behavioural Training but it is a multi-rig
facility and can be used for all types of
Breathing Apparatus Training with potential
to be used by industries other than aviation
and Local Authority Fire Service. HIFRS
will be using the Sumburgh facility to train
all its retained fire fighters from both Orkney
and Shetland. It is scheduled to open
in July 2011. In addition we have also
entered into an agreement with Northern
constabulary to provide a police office
within the terminal building.
Wick
The Royal National Mod, Scotland’s
premier festival of Gaelic language, arts
and culture, was held in Caithness in
October 2010, and as a result, an increased
number of charter aircrafts used Wick
airport. The John O’Groats to Lands End
cycle event “Round Britain” took place last
year and returns this June flying in to Wick
to start the event. Loganair introduced a
Tuesday service to Edinburgh which gives
a six day service link to Scotland’s Capital.
Wick continues to support winch training
for North Sea Oil helicopter companies.
Our Inverness airport manager Graeme
Bell stretched his management
responsibilities to Wick airport whilst
recruitment for the new Station Manager
post was underway (recently filled by local
manWillieSutherland).Fundsweredonated
to the special needs department of Wick
High School after a charity football match
was played against the local Tesco team.
Wick Airport is a fantastic asset for the Caithness and north
Sutherland area with regular flights to Aberdeen and Edinburgh giving
excellent connectivity to other parts of the UK and further afield.
With a number of national and international companies located in the
area, the airport helps businesses work on a global scale.
Trudy Morris, Chief Executive Caithness Chamber of Commerce and Chair
of Wick Airport Consultative Committee
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