Atlantic Airways

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Faroese aviation history in brief

In 1941 the British army officer Leo Maxton flew around the Faroe Islands to search for the most suitable place to build an airport. This was during World War II and the British needed an airport in the North Atlantic. Maxton came to the conclusion that the most suitable place to build the airport was in V?gar and his advice was followed.
The first plane landed at this airport in the autumn of 1942. After the war, when the British army had left V?gar, air traffic decreased to almost nothing.

In fact air traffic didnt resume until 1963 when Iceland started a regular passenger route between the Faroes and Denmark. Initially a DC/3 plane was used but as demand increased newer and better planes were assigned to this route.

Discussion about establishing an airline company began in the 1980s. Passenger numbers were steadily increasing and there was no competition on this route. There was only the one airline that had regular flights to the Faroes.

In 1987 the idea became reality and, in November, Atlantic Airways was established.In the beginning Cimber Air owned shares in the company but later on the Faroese government took full ownership.
After considerable thought, the management chose a British Aerospace plane. This plane holds 92 passengers and is thought to be very well suited for the Faroese route.

On 28th March 1988 Faroese people were able for the first time to fly from V?gar to Copenhagen with their new Faroese airline company.
The aim of the airline company, which many predicted would have a short life, was to build up a Faroese aviation industry on a commercial basis and to ensure the FaroeIslands a good, up-to-date air connection with the outside world. Furthermore, the company aimed to improve the existing level of service.

In order to have its home base in the Faroes, it was necessary that technical maintenance facilities were available. This was made possible when the government built a hangar in V?gar which the company rents.

In 1995 Atlantic Airways took the first step towards establishing regular flights to the neighbouring country, Iceland, and started to fly in co-operation with Icelandair.
In the summer Atlantic Airways also flies on behalf of Icelandair to Narsarsuaq in Greenland. Thus the connection to Greenland has also been improved.
Since 1997 Atlantic Airways has also been flying to Aarhus and Billund in Denmark.
In the summer of 1998 Atlantic Airways started regular flights to Aberdeen in Scotland and with Oslo in summer 2002 air connection to all the neighbouring countries was a reality.
In 2007 Atlantic Airways is operating seven BAe RJ/146 aircraft, flying from the Faroe Islands to Copenhagen, Billund and Aalborg, to Aberdeen and London, to Stavanger and Oslo and to ReykjavÃk. From London to Shetland, from ReykjavÃk to Narsarrsuaq and numerous charter operations all over Europe.

The infrastructure in the Faroe Islands is good with good road and sea connections between the villages. Nowadays, there is also a domestic air service but that has not always been the case.
In the 1960s the Danish coast guard vessels, patrolling the waters around the Faroe Islands and Greenland, were equipped with helicopters. These helicopters were primarily meant for military duty but from time to time they also undertook other tasks such as flying equipment for farmers etc. It soon became apparent that a helicopter was a convenient tool. In the summer of 1978 a helicopter was hired for certain tasks and as a result of this there was a lot of interest in establishing a public helicopter service.

This was soon to become a reality. Early in the 1980s an agreement was made between the Faroese government and a foreign helicopter company to trial one of their helicopters in the Faroes.
This experience was so successful that it was decided to establish a Faroese helicopter department. This came to fruition in 1984. Initially, the helicopter department was part of Strandfaraskip Landsins but as times changed it was considered best to put all Faroese aviation in one company. So this led, in the spring of 1994, to the helicopter department becoming part of Atlantic Airways.
Atlantic Helicopters now has 3 helicopters, One Bell 212 mainly to serve the schedule flights to the isolated islands, and for chartered operations. One Bell 412 specialy equipped for search and rescue in faroese territory, and one more Bell 412 primarily intended for offshore operations abroad.