Flights resume after telecommunications issues at Sumburgh Airport

HIGHLANDS and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) says telecommunications issues which have cancelled a number of flights at Sumburgh Airport are now resolved.

A spokesperson said on Monday morning that the terminal building is open, but all passengers are advised to contact their airline for travel updates.

They added that National Air Traffic Service (NATS) is awaiting a formal report from its network provider on the exact cause of the technical issue which caused the telecommunications outage.

“Engineers have worked over the weekend to restore service, and the airport reopened this morning with flights operating from this afternoon,” the spokesperson added.

All flights at Sumburgh Airport were cancelled yesterday (Sunday), with the telecommunications issue said to be caused by cable damage.

This morning’s (Monday) flights were also cancelled.

However Loganair flights resumed this afternoon.

There has been some criticism on social media of the communication from Loganair to passengers on booked on Sunday’s flights regarding cancellations, including some in Inverness having to book their own overnight accommodation.

A Loganair spokesperson said all passengers affected by the disruption have been contacted.

“Passengers were advised to book their own accommodation which would be reimbursed,” they added.

A spokesperson for the coastguard said search and rescue operations were unaffected during the disruption.

There is an ongoing broadband outage for customers of some internet providers following damage to a subsea cable near Orkney.

There were also series of power cuts across Shetland on Sunday, with some disruption reported in the south end.

The isles experienced windy weather on Friday and Saturday night as ‘Storm Amy’ made its presence felt in Shetland.

The flight disruption comes on top of two nights of ferry cancellations – on Friday and Saturday – where all services between Aberdeen and Lerwick were called off.

However, services resumed on Sunday evening.