Scatsta Airport
Encyclopedia
Scatsta Airport , is a commercial airport on Shetland in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 located 17 NM north of Lerwick
Lerwick
Lerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...

 and 5 mi (8 km) southwest of Sullom Voe Terminal
Sullom Voe Terminal
The Sullom Voe Terminal is an oil and liquefied gas terminal at Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. It handles production from oilfields in the North Sea and East Shetland Basin...

.

Scatsta Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P777) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (BP Exploration Operating Company Limited).

History

The airport was first developed in 1940 as RAF Scatsta, a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 fighter plane base to support Coastal Command flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...

 operations at RAF Sullom Voe, and was the most northerly base in the British Isles.

Construction started in Spring 1940, of two runways. One was 1400 yd (1,280.2 m) long on a heading of 130 degrees and the other was 1510 yd (1,380.7 m) long on a heading of 250 degrees. The first runway was completed in April 1941. The main contractor for the construction of the aerodrome was the Zetland County Council.

In November 1944 Scatsta was used as a support base and diversion point for Lancasters from squadron 617, the famous "Dam Busters", led by Wing Commander J. B. Tait, on Operation Catechism
Operation Catechism
Operation Catechism was the last of nine attempts to sink or sabotage the Kriegsmarine battleship Tirpitz during World War II. On November 12, 1944, the RAF Bomber Command dispatched 30 Avro Lancaster heavy bombers from No. 9 Squadron RAF and No. 617 Squadron RAF Operation Catechism was the last of...

, which bombed and sank the Tirpitz near Håkøy Island, Tromsø.

After World War II Scatsta Aerodrome lay dormant except for the landing of a US Coastguard Hercules on 24 May 1969, in connection with the LORAN navigation station which had been established at the north west end of runway 13/31.

It was abandoned after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, but reinstated as a civilian airport in 1978 to support the Shetland oil industry, and the Sullom Voe oil terminal in particular. It is the fifth largest airport in Scotland, ranked by international passengers. This classification may be on the basis of helicopter flights to and from oil rigs in the Norwegian and/ or Faroes sectors of the North Atlantic/ North Sea oil region, or some classification of flights to foreign-registered (though UK-crewed and serviced) oil rigs as being "foreign" destinations. The only fixed wing route operating regularly from Scatsta is the 7 or 8 times daily shuttle to and from Aberdeen to ferry offshore crew to Scatsta for onward travel via helicopter to oil rigs and mainland worker at the Sullom Voe Terminal commonly working either a 2 week on/off shift or 10 days on 4 days off rota.

The balance between oil service flights and "civilian" flights can be judged from the fact that the airport service area has no bar (the nearest is some 3 miles (4.8 km) away), no taxi or bus service (to anywhere) and three large rooms for helicopter passengers to don their survival suits before embarking.

The first flight of the day from Scatsta to Aberdeen has no passengers from offshore – and can have anything up to about 60 passengers during the height of the season, although the figure is more commonly between 15 and 25 on an average day.
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