Snow closes airport

HIGHLANDS and Islands Airport Ltd (HIAL) has explained its decision to close Sumburgh Airport on Tuesday morning following some light snowfall overnight.

Passengers had to wait until midday before the first planes from the Scottish mainland arrived.

The morning flight to Edinburgh, scheduled to depart at 7.45am, only left six hours later. However, by 3pm most services were operating close to the timetable.

A HIAL spokesman said the airport had re-opened for arriving and departing aircraft at 10.30am, with the earlier disruption having a knock-on effect on scheduled flights.

He said airport managers take the decision to close an airfield with the safety of passengers and crew in mind

“Our winter operations plan is well established and based on procedures learned from and shared with Norwegian airports,” he said.

“The decision to close the airport for snow clearing and deicing is based on the prevailing weather conditions. Safety in aviation is always the primary objective.”