Benbecula Airport

Last updated

Benbecula Airport

Port-adhair Bheinn na Faoghla
BEB logo-01.svg
Benbecula airport building.jpg
Summary
Airport typePrivate
Owner/Operator HIAL
Serves Benbecula
Location Balivanich
Elevation  AMSL 19 ft / 6 m
Coordinates 57°28′52″N007°21′46″W / 57.48111°N 7.36278°W / 57.48111; -7.36278
Website Benbecula Airport
Map
Outer Hebrides UK location map.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
EGPL
Location in Scotland
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
mft
06/241,8366,023 Asphalt
17/351,2204,003Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Movements1,977
Passengers30,414
Sources: UK AIP at NATS [1]
Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority [2]

Benbecula Airport (Scottish Gaelic : Port-adhair Bheinn na Faoghla) ( IATA : BEB, ICAO : EGPL) is located on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, off the West Coast of Scotland. It is a small rural airport owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.

Contents

History

Early years

An airfield has existed on Benbecula since 1936 when Scottish Airways began operating to what was known as Balivanich Airfield, located on the north west corner of the island. [3]

Second World War

Between 1941 and 1942, during the Second World War, the airfield became RAF Benbecula, when it came under the control of the Royal Air Force's No. 15 (GR) Group, Coastal Command. During this period it was home to aircraft carrying out patrols in the Atlantic, protecting shipping convoys from German U-Boats. [3] Such missions were carried out by the Lockheed Hudson and latterly the Boeing Fortress and Vickers Wellington. [4]

At its peak, RAF Benbecula had several thousand troops stationed at the station and at several other sites around the islands.

The following units were based at the airfield at some point:

Post-War

The airfield later became the control centre for the nearby Hebrides Rocket Range. [3] After the Second World War, the airfield became Benbecula Airport.

Airlines and destinations

The airport provides scheduled services to the Scottish mainland and other Hebridean islands. In so doing it provides vital transport connections for the islands of Benbecula, North Uist and South Uist, which are interlinked by causeway but are over two hours from the mainland by sea. The airport is also used by emergency air ambulance flights and by flights supporting the nearby missile test range.

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Hebridean Air Services Stornoway [12]
Loganair Glasgow

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Royal Mail Inverness, [13] Stornoway [13]

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at BEB airport. See Wikidata query.

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The Outer Hebrides or Western Isles, sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The islands are geographically coextensive with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. They form part of the archipelago of the Hebrides, separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch, the Little Minch, and the Sea of the Hebrides.

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Benbecula is an island of the Outer Hebrides in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Scotland. In the 2011 census, it had a resident population of 1,283 with a sizable percentage of Roman Catholics. It is in a zone administered by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar or the Western Isles Council. The island is about 12 kilometres from west to east and a similar distance from north to south. It lies between the islands of North Uist and South Uist and is connected to both by road causeways. Benbecula's main settlement and administrative centre is Balivanich.

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References

  1. "Benbecula - EGPL". Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  2. "Annual airport data 2022 | Civil Aviation Authority". Civil Aviation Authority. 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "About Us - Benbecula Airport". Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  4. "Marking the 75th anniversary of Western Isles air bases". Stornoway Gazette. 27 March 2016. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  5. Jefford 1988 , p. 37.
  6. Jefford 1988 , p. 65.
  7. Jefford 1988 , p. 69.
  8. Jefford 1988 , p. 72.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Benbecula (Balivanich)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust . Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  10. Jefford 1988 , p. 85.
  11. Jefford 1988 , p. 93.
  12. "New airline Hebridean Air Services taking off with improved Stornoway - Benbecula timetable". Hebrides News. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  13. 1 2 n.a. (31 January 2017). "Loganair secures new Royal Mail Contract". BBC.
  14. Domhnall Ruadh Choruna, Edited by Fred Macauley (1995), pages 102–105.

Bibliography