Airfields

Orkney Islands Council has six island airfields situated on the beautiful islands of Eday, North Ronaldsay, Papa Westray, Sanday, Stronsay, and Westray. Ideally located for visitors to the Northern Isles in uncontrolled airspace with some of the most breath-taking scenery in Scotland, the airfields are situated some 14 to 28 nm (nautical miles) North of Kirkwall Airport.

Loganair operate scheduled flights from Kirkwall Airport to all six north isles airports. Please refer to the Loganair timetables to avoid arriving or departing at the same time as the Islander, no flights are permitted to land or take off within 15 minutes of any Islander flight. If you wish to land at any of the OIC airfields, please read the rules for airfield users available from the 'Related Downloads' section of this page.

PPR (Prior Permission Required)

PPR is required at all island airfields by using the buttons below.  All aircraft owners or operators must be in possession of a valid indemnity before PPR will be approved.  Please see the full list of the landing fees and charges on page 58 of the Council Charges Register. Landing fees should be paid by phoning 01856 873535 and quoting your PPR number.  All aircraft must park in the area sign-posted “Light Aircraft Parking” and not on the taxiway, helipad or apron.

Please note:-

• At present, PPR requests can only be answered from 9am – 4pm Monday to Friday. A request should be submitted a minimum of 24 hours in advance during working hours and approval must be given before any landings can be made.
• Any pilots wishing to land at more than one airfield should submit a request for the first airfield they wish to visit, then in the Info & Requests box, detail the additional airfields and requested timings.
• Any pilots wishing to purchase an annual landing card should be aware that due to work in progress, Papa Westray and Stronsay airfields are closed to all GA traffic until at least April 2025. Therefore, depending on their anticipated number of landings, pilots may wish to pay per landing rather than purchase an annual landing ticket.

The PPR Request system has been updated; please contact airfields@orkney.gov.uk if you experience any issues or with any feedback you may have.

Airfield Drone Safety

If you want to tell the Airfield that you are flying a Drone email Island Airfields. You do not need a PPR form. It’s important you contact the Airfield Manager if you intend to fly a drone near the Airfield, or, if you observe and have immediate concerns about the safety of Drone Activity. It is quite possible to fly a drone in the vicinity of the airfield but permission is crucial to allow safe coordination of this activity.

Drones represent a significant risk to our Airfield Operations; the unwanted and unplanned presence of drones in the vicinity of the Airfield and beyond is hazardous to both the aircraft and air ambulance helicopters that frequently use our Airfields, unauthorized use of a drone over an airfield will cause flights in and out to be suspended.

DRONESAFE UK and the Drone Assist App have good information to help you fly safely; designed to help ensure drone users in the UK can access the information that you need in order to fly your drone safely and legally, without endangering others. Drone Assist is a safety app. It presents users with an interactive map of airspace used by commercial air traffic so that you can see areas to avoid or in which extreme caution should be exercised. It contains a ‘Fly Now’ feature that enables you to share your drone flight location with other users. You can access the Drone Assist App and the Drone Code on the Drone Safe website (link available from the 'Related Sites' section of this page).

Guidance on the safety rules that apply when flying unmanned and model aircraft can be found on the Civil Aviation Authority website.

Further Information

For work in progress or grass cutting information pilots must call the relevant airfield co-ordinator on the day of arrival for the latest updates or restrictions.

Any safety concerns that may arise at any of the isles airfields can be reported by completing the Confidential Airport Safety Report form available from the 'Related Downloads' section of this page to Island Airfields. To fill in the form you can either print it out and fill it in by hand or save it to your computer, fill it in on-screen, save it and email it.

Fees

Information on all fees are available on page 58 of the latest 'Council Charges Register' available from the 'Council Charges' page in the 'Related Links' section of this page.