Stornoway Airport is located 2½ miles (4 km) east of Stornoway town centre. A new £2 million terminal building was opened in 2002 by First Minister Jack McConnell (b. 1960). The airport is operated by the government-owned Highland and Islands Airports Limited and has the International Air Transport Association (IATA) location code "SYY". Scheduled flights operate from Stornoway to Benbecula and Barra, as well as Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh on the mainland. The airport is increasingly involved in support services for oil exploration and development in the North Atlantic.
Captain E.E. Fresson pioneered air services to Stornoway in 1934 and an aerodrome opened in 1937. The Royal Air Force took over the site in 1941 to support anti-submarine operations. RAF Stornoway, being the closest British airfield to Iceland, proved an important staging post for aircraft crossing the North Atlantic. Stornoway became a valuable NATO Forward Operating Base, but this closed in 1993, although Stornoway still serves as a base for a search and rescue helicopter operated by HM Coastguard.
