Airport Kirkwall (EGPA)

If you want to know where all your EU euros have gone, fly to Kirkwall in The Orkneys! Like many of the Highland & Island fields, in the last few years they have been transformed with new hard runways, lights etc. with money from the 'EU Development Fund’.

Kirkwall Airport offers ILS, RNP, PAPI's, and lights at both ends, with fuel and easy parking and, although a 'regional' airport, is very GA friendly. It also has a shorter hard - 680 metre - cross runway - which is useful for lighter GA since the 'crosswinds' can be notorious here at times, and if you need to CTL.

Services: Parking on the apron is professionally done with marshallers; and on both occasions that I have landed there recently, the fuel truck arrived before I had shut down! Avgas was payable by BP Card or Credit Card (and I assume by cash also). Landing was £14.60 for my PA26 Arrow, and £8 per night with good security.

Remember the Hi-Viz to walk to the 'staff' entrance to the main lounge. (When you need to return to your plane, you have to ask 'Information' to let you out again, or all hell is let loose on security alarms.)

The only 'downside' is that there is no Briefing Room but it now has Wi-Fi which you can use in the large Waiting Room and Café which is open during the day and which does snack food; but it often closes early, especially if no Island flights are pending.

Buses go fairly regularly during the day into Kirkwall and beyond. There is a list of Taxi firms on the notice board by the Information Desk. I used on one occasion: Craggies 01856 878787.

Accommodation: Although the number of private planes coming to The Orkneys is small, quite a lot of tourists come by ferry in the summer, so bed space can be tight. The choice in Kirkwall is rather limited. The main hotel is The Kirkwall Hotel http://www.kirkwallhotel.com/ which is sometimes used by the Islander pilots when ‘weathered in’. Because I often travel with my folding-bike, I try to get a bed close to airports. I stayed at The Royal Oak Guest House https://royaloakguesthouse.co.uk/ which was the nearest to the airport. It has decent rooms + a good ‘Scottish’ breakfast for £60 per night. (It was a bit of a climb by bike from the airport; but then it was downhill all the way the next morning!)

HIAL Out of Hours Permit: If one intends to ‘fly the islands’ and/or stay elsewhere overnight, one is encouraged to apply for this Permit https://www.hial.co.uk/downloads/file/1030/hial-out-of-hours-indemnity-application-form-issue-24-april-2025 (£53.05) and receive it in advance. It takes at least 72 hours + postage time. This allows one to T/O & Land outside of the usual ‘opening hours’.

This is important for two main reasons: Many of the fields close quite early – especially at weekends - and the ‘best’ weather is often in the evening. Remember, being so far North, in the summer it is ‘daylight’ till 10.30pm! It is a shame to be grounded during it. But more importantly, the weather can often change for the better in the evening. To be able to delay T/O for 45 minutes – to a time after the airport is closed – could make all the difference between ‘getting home’ or having to stay overnight somewhere else.

If you like wild scenery; quiet; walking country with puffins & seals; or just a chance to ‘get away’, the peacefulness of The Orkneys, and the other islands, makes one feel that ‘London is a thousand miles away’ (in fact, in Shetland one nearly is that distance away: Madrid is closer to London than Lerwick!).

When the weather is fine, one could almost believe one is flying in The Caribbean: clear blue skies and beautiful views of over 100 islands all laid out before you (although one knows the water is very cold!). But to fly safely up here one really needs either plenty of spare time, and/or the ability to fly IFR.

There are occasions when the weather can move in for days and unless one has the skill, one could be grounded for a long time.

For example, on my return journey once, there was cloud over Kirkwall from 500’ to 10,000’. Only by flying a SID, and flying at FL120 (with oxygen), was one able to fly over the top. This I did till over Manchester; and then it was ‘pure blue’ all the way back to Rochester, Kent..

Kirkwall makes a good base for ‘doing’ the Northern Islands; but don’t rush it: Relax and enjoy . . .