The world's shortest scheduled flight - Westray to Papa Westray
Two of many avgeeks bucket list items are in Scotland. One is the Barra beach airport which I covered in a previous post. The other - and probably the most popular of the two - is the worlds shortest scheduled flight with a block time of two minutes between Westray and Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands north of the mainland.
The flight is operated by Glasgow head quartered Loganair using a pair of Britten Norman BN2 Islander's. It is actually a government funded Public Service Obligation (PSO) route which operates as a triangle from Kirkwall on the main Orkney Island and back again. They have three triangular flights out of Kirkwall named the inter island flights, the other two loops being North Ronaldsay (NRL) & Eday (EOI) and Stronsay (SOY) & Sanday (NDY).
Image credit : Encyclopaedia Britannica
Because they are PSO routes, they are very reasonably priced and are bookable as expected on Loganair's website. However, because so many aviation enthusiasts and general adventurers wanting to do something cool and unique want to just fly the Westray - Papa Westray leg, they have special what they call "sightseer flights" for this purpose at a fixed cost of £45 all fees and taxes included, but they are only bookable on the day of the flight by old fashioned telephone or in person. This is because, being a PSO route, residents and visitors making essential journeys get first priority and a sightseer flight can only be booked if there are spare seats on the day once all the other sales are completed. You can also not get off the aircraft at either airport and you just make a roundtrip flight from Kirkwall and back. Obviously if you do want to spend time on either island, then you count as a visitor and you can book online in the normal manner.
So first of you have to get to Kirkwall (airport code KOI / EGPA). Of course all flights are operated by Loganair and they offer daily scheduled flights from Edinburgh (EDI), Glasgow (GLA), Aberdeen (ABZ) and Inverness (INV), with all flights now being operated by ATR aircraft, usually 46-48 seat 42's (4x -500's and 2x -600's) but demand sometimes means the larger 72 seat 72 (10x -600's). Through connections are offered to many large cities in their network as well as the inter island flights plus Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands.
There are also three year round ferry services from the mainland. Gills Bay - St Margarets Bay, Aberdeen - Kirkwall and Scrabster - Stromness as well as summer seasonal John O'Groats - Burwick and a link to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. There are of course inter island services too including Westray and Papa Westray, but in winter the seas are often rough and it takes a long time compared to flying. Not to mention flying is so much cooler than sailing...
My trip was in December 2022 just before Christmas, so some details may have changed since then. One notable change is the shorter flights from Aberdeen and Inverness were operated by the now retired Saab 340B at that time.
My adventure started in Edinburgh with my ever patient wife and this time mother in law for moral support. To avoid all the higher parking costs we used the Halbeath Park & Ride and got the regally numbered 747 Stagecoach bus in. No bags to check, Costa Coffee visited, gates walked for registrations and photos and we left from gate 25. Our flight LM399 departed EDI at 1715 arriving in KOI at 1830.
Our aircraft was Franco Italian Avions de Transport Régional ATR 42-500 registration G-LMRE named "Clan Ewing" serial 606 built in Toulouse first flying on 15th February 2000 . It wore test registrations F-WWLK and F-WQMA before delivery to Danish lessor Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) and placed with Lufthansa group member Air Dolomiti of Verona Italy registered I-ADLQ with 46 seats on 15th March 2000. It was retired on 1st October 2010 and returned to NAC and parked in Montpellier France six days later. It was ferried to Monchengladbach Germany for painting on 16th November for flyMe operated by Villa Air both of Malé The Maldives, delivered to them on 26th March 2011. It returned to NAC with Danish registration OY-YAA on 20th August 2015. Next placement was with Easyfly of Bogota Colombia with registration HK-5159 and seating increased to 48 seats, delivery on 14th September 2015. They parked it in Quebec City QC on 29th August 2020 and returned it to NAC with Canadian registration C-GUCZ on 9th December 2020. They moved it to Toulouse Francazal on 11th July 2021 and it reverted to Danish marks OY-YAA on the 5th August and transferred to Billund on 22nd October. It was delivered to Loganair on 2nd November 2021 and lessor NAC sold it to DAE (Dubai Aerospace Enterprise) Capital in May 2025 with lease to Loganair continuing. Thanks to www.planespotters.net for the detailed information.
Disembarking G-LMRE at Kirkwall airport
First thing in the morning when the call center opened at 7am, I called them - the number is 0344 800 2855 - to check on availability of seats on the Westray - Papa Westray flight. They had one seat available, which I duly snapped up, they just took my name and credit card details and I quickly got ready and my wife dropped me off at Kirkwall airport around 745am. There is a dedicated check in desk for the inter island flights in the far corner of the terminal building and gate number 3. I presented myself here and found with a little relief they did indeed have my name down for the flightseer flight. They took my name down incorrectly as Hardy instead of Harvey - clearly my dulcet English tones are not so clear in Glasgow HQ!! Anyway it was not an issue and as I had nothing to check - just me, my camera and GoPro. I sat to wait but they advised there was going to be a delay as normally there are two aircraft operating these routes, but one had a maintenance issue, so only one had to operate all three loops. Normally it would do the North Ronaldsay - Eday run first, then do the Westray's, but unfortunately today it also had to do the Stronsay - Sanday run as well.
The schedule is slightly different every day and Loganair have a winter and summer schedule, this is what it currently is for a winter Wednesday today and I think it was the same then.
LM701 dep Kirkwall 0735 arr North Ronaldsay 0752 dep N Ronaldsay 0759 arr Kirkwall 0816
LM711 dep Kirkwall 0825 arr Stronsay 0834 dep Stronsay 0841 arr Sanday 0846 dep Stronsay 0853 arr Kirkwall 0906
LM709 dep Kirkwall 0835 arr Westray 0850 dep Westray 0857 arr Papa Westray 0859 dep Papa Westray 0906 arr Kirkwall 0921
There is a little cafe in the terminal where I got a quick bite for breakfast while I waited for my flight, which by the time it came in from Stronsay it was gone 9am and we would have departed around 915 about 50 minutes late.
Gate 3 and waiting area dedicated to the inter island flights. The larger desk to the left is the check in desk and the smaller window to the right is for baggage check in. The cafe is to the left out of frame
It was not a full flight, there were five other passengers for the first leg plus me, we all walked out on to the ramp on a quite pleasant day with fair weather clouds. Our aircraft for the day was 1986 build Britten Norman BN-2B-26 Islander registered G-BPCA named "Earl Thorfinn, The Mighty".
Just for some obligatory avgeekery, the A was the main production model which got a increased take off weight from the prototype. The B model got some soundproofing (I'm not sure I noticed...?!), increased landing weight and other minor modifications. The -26 is a -8 with further increased take off weight. The -8 is a -6 with droop flaps. The -6 has leading edge modifications and 260hp Lycoming O-540-E4C5 engines. Those numbers all mean something... Thanks to Wiki for setting out what they are!
This aircraft is serial 2198 and was not built in the BN factory in Bembridge (Isle of Wight), but in Bucharest Bâneasa airport Romania by IRMA (Intreprinderea de Reparatii Material Aeronautic). BN were purchased by well known Swiss manufacturer Pilatus in 1979 and when I was young they were known as PBN Islander's, which this one is. During a production boom in the 1970's when BN were under the ownership of Aviation Fairey, many frames were built in Belgium at Gosselies at Charleroi airport. As far as I can tell, through the 80's aircraft continued to go here or Bembridge from Romania for final completion. It was first registered G-BLNX to BN in Bembridge back on 3rd September 1984 presumably when production first started, then re-registered G-BPCA on 28th January 1988 and delivered new to Loganair 23rd March 1988, though it was formally registered to British Regional Aircraft (Scotland) until 7th Apr 1997 when it was registered directly to Loganair and it has been with them ever since in various liveries, including Scottish Air Ambulance and a Highland Park whisky special flying billboard livery.
G-BPCA in Highland Park whisky special livery in 2012 - photo by Flickr user shamu28
G-BPCA in Scottish Ambulance Service livery in 1994 - photo by Flickr user Zone 49 Photography
As I was not getting off the aircraft, I boarded first and was told to sit in the very rear of the aircraft. The aircraft has four bench seats which just about seat two people side by side, the first three rows have a dedicated door like a car to access them, two one side, one the other. The rear row is accessed from the third row which seat tips forward like a Cessna single or coupe car! I clambered in first and had the row to myself for the first leg up to Westray. The row in front of me had one person and the the first and second rows were full with four people. The right hand seat is also available for use, though I don't think it was today. There is a cargo section in the rear behind the cabin with it's own cargo door. I don't know if there is much of a heater system on the Islander, if there is you are not really airborne long enough for it to be too effective, so bring a warm coat and layers!
There was an ATR 72-500F present on the ramp, one of four dedicated freighters in the fleet and all you will see on a scheduled basis are the Loganair fleet of ATR's - and pair of Islander's. The other common visitors are the Scottish Air Ambulance Beech 200 Super King Air's operated by Gama Aviation based in Glasgow.
Scottish Air Ambulance Super King Air operated by Gama Aviation - photo by Flickr user Gavin
It was pretty loud, but not as bad as I expected, not ear defenders needed territory and to me anyway it was a beautiful melodious hum. The blocked flight time for the 28 miles up to Westray is 15 minutes at around 1000' with beautiful views heading due north over the islands of Shapinsay, Skaill and over Westray, the airport being at the north of the island in the community of Aikerness. Windows are very large and the view immediately to your right or left is grand, but the forward view is obstructed by the engine and very large fixed landing gear strut.
To call it an airport is maybe a little generous, consisting of a single story peaked roof building smaller than some cottages, there is one regular door airside and a garage door roadside and it could easily pass for a residential home. There is a garage next to it which houses the airport fire truck, an Isuzu D-Max. Assigned IATA/ICAO codes are WRY / EGEW, it has three runways in the traditional triangle, the main runway being graded hardcore 1,729' 09/27, plus two grass runways 1,381' 13/31 and 955' 01/19, the latter which is now closed and used to be the worlds shortest commercial runway. There is a gravel taxiway up to the tarmac ramp north from about 1/3 along 09/27 at the western 09 end. The ramp can maybe hold four aircraft with room for the Islander to do a u-turn upon arrival and a designated helipad in the corner of it.
Image credit : Google Maps
On that pleasant thought, we then headed out on the same 09 east over a body of water I don't believe is named, just part of the north Atlantic Ocean to Papa Westray, the world shortest scheduled flight at 1.7 miles and a block time of 2 minutes and maximum altitude of about 300'! The record in 53 seconds...
Assigned IATA/ICAO codes are PPW / EGEP, again the terminal is barely a bungalow though it does look more functional, along with the same triangle runway configuration. Two are listed as graded hardcore, but google earth shows two grass - well, the end of one is gravel I guess after the intersection. We landed on 22 the main gravel one anyway, which is the 1,729' long 04/22, the other two being 1,096' 07/25 and 1,125' 18/36 - they are barely visible in below image. The ramp is pretty much on the runway this time half way down and the aircraft literally turns off and spins around outside the terminal building. Like Westray, the ramp has a helipad in the corner though I would say it is smaller. Along with the Kirkwall and Westray flights, unlike Westray there are sometimes also links to North Ronaldsay.
Image credit : Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust
Again, we are on the ground for 7 minutes, I can not see too much at this point but I think maybe a couple of passengers got off and on. We headed back south from runway 22 for the 15 minute run back over Westray down to Kirkwall, I believe runway 14. Upon arrival, you walk back through gate 3 across the terminal building, adventure completed. As I walked across the ramp, a (now retired) Saab 340B also was heading into the ramp.
Far left corner in the cafe by the bathrooms looking to the inter island desk far corner and gate 3 behind the blue boards
Security and main gates directly in front of the entrance doors with information desk
Small gift shop and waiting area from the entrance doors, inter island desk and gate 3 in the far left corner with cafe
The main Loganair check in desks from the rental car counter, main entrance doors to the right, information desk to the left
Kirkwall airport terminal building roadside from the car park
Kirkwall airport and ATC tower with 1998 ATR 72-500(F) c/n 570 G-LMRZ on the ramp
Kirkwall airport and runway 27
As I stepped outside to await my wife, I heard the buzz of more Lycoming's and saw the earlier broken other Islander was now back in service. G-BLDV serial 2179 is also a BN2B-26 and was built in 1984 also by IRMA in Romania while under the PBN brand. It was delivered to FLN (Frisia Luftvekehr Norddeich) of Norden Germany as D-INEY on 8th April 1984 and returned to PBN on 5th June 1996 as G-BLDV. Delivered to Loganair 12th July that year when they were a British Airways franchisee and wore the Benyhone tartan version of the world tails livery, then also a Highland Park whisky flying billboard livery. Now it has the black belly of the latest livery, awaiting the tartan and red trimmings.
G-BLDV Islander departing out of Kirkwall awaiting full repaint in the current full livery
We departed back to Edinburgh on the same ATR42. While on the islands, it is of note that on the island of Lamb Holm - connected by the Churchill Barriers to Orkney to the north and South Ronaldsay to the south - has a small airfield grandly named Lamb Holm International Airfield with ICAO code EG62 and it does not have an IATA code. It has two grass runways 2100' 06/24 and 1115' 15/33. My driver was not keen on driving up the muddy road to it, but I saw a couple of movements from the famous Italian Chapel, the threshold of runway 24 being behind it.
G-IFAB ~ 1979 Reims Cessna F182Q Skylane ~ private ~ running up at the end of the runway at home base Lamb Holm taken from the car park at the Italian Chapel
Some non aviation photos of the main sites to be seen on Orkney
Typical coastline in Bay of Birsay
Skara Brae dating back about 6000 years
Loch of Harray by Ring of Brodgar
Standing Stones of Stennes
Rainbow over Kirkwall Harbour
Kirkwall Hotel where we stayed and ate evening meals right on the harbour
Churchill Barriers linking the islands of Orkney, Lamb Holm and South Ronaldsay
Inside Italian Chapel - all paintwork, not a single tile
Thanks for reading and I will see you on the next one!! Find me on Flickr for more photos under albums Edinburgh, Kirkwall, Lamb Holm and UK trip 22/23.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23870098@N04/
Comments
Post a Comment