Stornoway Airport - Spotting Guide

Stornoway Airport – Spotting Guide

November 27, 2023 - last modified on November 28, 2023

Stornoway Airport is a small regional airport located in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The airport serves the Isles of Lewis and Harris, and is one of the busier airports in the Highlands and Islands Airport network.

The airport was originally constructed for military purposes and was known as RAF Stornoway until 1998. These days it mainly serves commercial flights, though the occasional military aircraft will fly in and out. The main airline serving Stornoway is Loganair, who operate ATR and Embraer aircraft to Benbecula, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. They also operate ATR freighters on mail services on behalf of the Royal Mail. The Scottish Ambulance service also operated frequent Beechcraft and Helicopter Air Ambulance services to the airport (some of which operated by Gama Aviation). The local Coast Guard helicopter frequently flies in and out too. There are also light aircraft based at the airport.

Written by Tom Dawkins

General Information
Terminal	There is one small terminal for all operations
Runway	Two runways: Major 18/36 with a length of 2.316m (7.595ft). Secondary 06/24 with a length of 1.000 (3.281 ft)

	Terminal Area
WHERE	The area around the small terminal can be easily used for photographing almost all of the major traffic at the airport. Position yourself on the left or right side of the building. Furthermore you can also spot from inside the terminal before security checks.

WHAT	All terminal ramp movements. 18 departures in the distance

TIME	Depends on the angel of the planes. During the winter season you can spot here the whole day. During the summer it is backlit especially in the evening.

MISC.	Everything needed within the terminal. Ladder is needed for ramp shoots outside of terminal but you can photograph through the fence mesh as well.

FOCAL LENGTH	20-100mm for ramp. 200mm for ATR72 departure