Stornoway Airport

About Stornoway Airport

Stornoway Airport (IATA: SYY, ICAO: EGPO) is the main airport for the Outer Hebrides. It lies on the east side of the Isle of Lewis, about 2 miles (3 km) east of Stornoway near the village of Melbost, and provides the islands' principal air links with mainland Scotland. HIAL describes it as an important access point for residents, visitors, business travel and medical journeys across Lewis, Harris and the wider Western Isles.

The airport is operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), a company wholly owned by the Scottish Ministers. UK Civil Aviation Authority figures show that it handled 104,536 terminal passengers in 2025.

Stornoway has two asphalt runways. The main runway, 18/36, is 2,088 metres long, which is longer than the main runway at Inverness, and the secondary runway, 06/24, is 1,000 metres long. Besides passenger flights, the airport is home to an HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter, which the UK Aeronautical Information Publication notes can operate at any hour.

How to get to Stornoway Airport

By road

The airport is reached from Stornoway along the A866, which heads east out of town towards the Point district (the Eye Peninsula). The airport turning is signposted from the main road. HIAL gives the distance from the town centre as around four miles.

Short and long stay parking is available on site, across the road from the terminal building. There are accessible bays and Blue Badge spaces, and Blue Badge holders can park free of charge when travelling off the island. NHS patients travelling for medical reasons can also park free with the appropriate documents. A free drop-off area is provided, and the two pay stations take both cash and card.

Several taxi firms serve the airport. HIAL advises booking a taxi before arrival, as not every operator works on Sundays. The UK AIP lists car hire among the transport options at the airport.

By bus and coach

Bus service W5 (Point) runs along the A866 between Stornoway and the Point district and serves the airport. The service is limited, so check the current timetable published by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar before travelling.

Terminal and facilities

Stornoway Airport has a single terminal building. Verified facilities include:

• A cafe serving hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, rolls, light meals, snacks and cakes, open during terminal hours
• An information desk offering local advice, maps and leaflets for visitors
• An ambulift and wheelchairs for passengers with reduced mobility, available on request

Airlines and destinations

Loganair operates the main scheduled flights, with services to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness. Hebridean Air Services runs the inter-island route between Stornoway and Benbecula under a public service obligation contract awarded by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, which runs until March 2028. The Benbecula flights operate on selected days of the week rather than daily.

In summer 2026 Loganair cut its Inverness to Stornoway service to weekends only. Following Scottish Government funding announced in August 2026, weekday flights on the route are due to return from 26 October 2026.

History

The airfield was laid out on the former Melbost golf links, a site identified in the 1930s by the aviation pioneer Captain E. E. Fresson. HIAL dates its opening to 1937, for military use, and Scottish Airways began civil flights in May 1940, but the Second World War soon made military flying dominant. As RAF Stornoway, the airfield supported maritime patrol work by Coastal Command and the Fleet Air Arm, and the wartime building programme gave it several hard runways. Control passed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation after the war.

Military use returned during the Cold War, when Stornoway became a NATO forward operating base able to receive strike, maritime patrol and fighter aircraft. The military section closed in 1998. HIAL was formed by the Civil Aviation Authority in 1986, with Stornoway among its original eight airports. A £5.3 million project to protect the airport against coastal erosion was completed in October 2023.