| Benbecula Airport | |
| Nativename: | Port-adhair Bheinn na Faoghla |
| Image2-Width: | 250 |
| Iata: | BEB |
| Icao: | EGPL |
| Type: | Private |
| Owner-Oper: | HIAL |
| City-Served: | Benbecula |
| Location: | Balivanich |
| Elevation-F: | 19 |
| Elevation-M: | 6 |
| Coordinates: | 57.4811°N -7.3628°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Scotland Outer Hebrides |
| Pushpin Label: | EGPL |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Scotland |
| Website: | Benbecula Airport |
| Metric-Rwy: | Y |
| R1-Number: | 06/24 |
| R1-Length-F: | 6,023 |
| R1-Length-M: | 1,836 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| R2-Number: | 17/35 |
| R2-Length-F: | 4,003 |
| R2-Length-M: | 1,220 |
| R2-Surface: | Asphalt |
| Stat-Year: | 2022 |
| Stat1-Header: | Movements |
| Stat1-Data: | 1,977 |
| Stat2-Header: | Passengers |
| Stat2-Data: | 30,414 |
| Footnotes: | Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2] |
Benbecula Airport (Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Bheinn na Faoghla) is located on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, off the West Coast of Scotland. It is a small rural airport owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.
An airfield has existed on Benbecula since 1936 when Scottish Airways began operating to what was known as Balivanich Airfield, located on the north west corner of the island.[3]
Between 1941 and 1942, during the Second World War, the airfield became RAF Benbecula, when it came under the control of the Royal Air Force's No. 15 (GR) Group, Coastal Command. During this period it was home to aircraft carrying out patrols in the Atlantic, protecting shipping convoys from German U-Boats. Such missions were carried out by the Lockheed Hudson and latterly the Boeing Fortress and Vickers Wellington.[4]
At its peak, RAF Benbecula had several thousand troops stationed at the station and at several other sites around the islands.
The following units were based at the airfield at some point:
The airfield later became the control centre for the nearby Hebrides Rocket Range. After the Second World War, the airfield became Benbecula Airport.
The airport provides scheduled services to the Scottish mainland and other Hebridean islands. In so doing it provides vital transport connections for the islands of Benbecula, North Uist and South Uist, which are interlinked by causeway but are over two hours from the mainland by sea. The airport is also used by emergency air ambulance flights and by flights supporting the nearby missile test range.