page_title: Shetland
section_title: Transport
hierarchical_section_title: Shetland / Economy / Transport
caption_attribution_description: English: Loganair Islander, Fair Isle airstrip. No snow-clearing problems here! As long as the snow is not more than a few inches deep scheduled flights continue as usual. Note - passengers have to carry their own luggage out to the aircraft!
context_page_description: Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated in the Northern Atlantic, between Great Britain, the Faroe Islands and Norway.
  The islands lie some 80 km to the northeast of Orkney, 170 km from the Scottish mainland and 300 km west of Norway. They form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total area is 1,466 km², and the population totalled 22,920 in 2019. The islands comprise the Shetland constituency of the Scottish Parliament. The local authority, Shetland Islands Council, is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The islands' administrative centre and only burgh is Lerwick, which has been the capital of Shetland since taking over from Scalloway in 1708.
  The largest island, known as "Mainland", has an area of 967 km², making it the third-largest Scottish island and the fifth-largest of the British Isles. There are an additional 15 inhabited islands. The archipelago has an oceanic climate, a complex geology, a rugged coastline and many low, rolling hills.
  Humans have lived in Shetland since the Mesolithic period.
context_section_description: Transport between islands is primarily by ferry, and Shetland Islands Council operates various inter-island services. Shetland is also served by a domestic connection from Lerwick to Aberdeen on mainland Scotland. This service, which takes about 12 hours, is operated by NorthLink Ferries. Some services also call at Kirkwall, Orkney, which increases the journey time between Aberdeen and Lerwick by 2 hours. There are plans for road tunnels to some of the islands, especially Bressay and Whalsay; however, it is hard to convince the mainland government to finance them.
  Sumburgh Airport, the main airport in Shetland, is located close to Sumburgh Head, 40 km (25 mi) south of Lerwick. Loganair operates flights to other parts of Scotland up to ten times a day, the destinations being Kirkwall, Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Lerwick/Tingwall Airport is located 11 km (6.8 mi) west of Lerwick. Operated by Directflight Limited in partnership with Shetland Islands Council, it is devoted to inter-island flights from the Shetland Mainland to most of the inhabited islands.
  Scatsta Airport near Sullom Voe allows frequent charter flights from Aberdeen to transport oilfield workers and this small terminal has the fifth largest number of international passengers in Scotland.
  Public bus services are operated in Mainland, Whalsay, Burra, Unst and Yell.
  The archipelago is exposed to wind and tide, and there are numerous sites of wrecked ships. Lighthouses are sited as an aid to navigation at various locations.
caption: Loganair aircraft in Fair Isle, midway between Orkney and Shetland
exif: {}