Kirkwall Airport
Kirkwall Airport
Kirkwall Airport (IATA: KOI, ICAO: EGPA) is the main airport serving Orkney in Scotland. It is located 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Kirkwall and is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. The airport is used by Loganair.
Location
58.958°N, 2.905°O · 15 m s. n. m. (50 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 2 Official publication
Tower
ATIS (automatic information)
Frequencies from the official publication: UK AIP (NATS), AIRAC 01 OCT 2026, checked on Oct 16, 2026. They change with each amendment: not for navigation without checking the current AIP. See the official publication In MHz.
History
Foundation
The airport was built and commissioned in 1940 as Royal Air Force Grimsetter, or simply RAF Grimsetter, for the defence of the Scapa Flow naval base. It took its name from the farm of Grimsetter, which the airfield was built over. In 1943, the Royal Navy took over the airbase and it was known as Royal Naval Air Station Grimsetter, commonly referred to as RNAS Grimsetter, later commissioned as HMS Robin and used by the Fleet Air Arm. Control passed in 1948 to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and in 1986 to Highlands and Islands Airports.
Royal Air Force
The following RAF units were here at some point:
Royal Navy
On 6 July 1943, RAF Grimsetter was transferred on loan to the Admiralty and known as Royal Naval Air Station Grimsetter, (RNAS Grimsetter). On 15 August, it was commissioned as HMS Robin, as a satellite to RNAS Hatston (HMS Sparrowhawk), located 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north west of Kirkwall.
The following Fleet Air Arm units were here at some point:
Airlines operating here · 1
Airlines using it as a main base (hub)
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Ken Walton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Kirkwall Airport (KOI). Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KOI
MLA
“Kirkwall Airport (KOI).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KOI. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Kirkwall Airport (KOI).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KOI.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Kirkwall Airport (KOI). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KOI (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_koi,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Kirkwall Airport (KOI)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KOI},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KOI}},
urldate = {2026-10-18},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-18}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KOI |title=Kirkwall Airport (KOI) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-18 |language=en}}