The tiny islands with puffins and whale-watching tours to get new direct flights from the UK
AN AIRLINE is launching flights from a major UK airport to a group of tiny islands.
Atlantic Airways has confirmed that the new route will operate from London Gatwick Airport.
Atlantic Airways is set to launch direct flights from London Gatwick to the Faroe Islands later this year.
Located halfway between Scotland and Iceland, Atlantic Airways already operates direct flights between Edinburgh and Vágar Island.
Brit holidaymakers in the south of England will soon be able to easily access the tiny islands thanks to a new route.
Twice weekly flights will depart from Vágar Airport at 4.45pm, arriving in London 6.55pm.
The flights will return to Vágar Airport at 7.55pm, before touching down at 10.05pm local time.
Flights between the two airports will depart from June 1, 2024, with fares starting from 831 DKK (£96) for a one-way ticket.
The new flights will operate every Tuesday and Saturday, until August 31, 2024.
Flights between Vágar and Edinburgh will operate all year round.
The Faroe Islands are an autonomous territory of Denmark, but are actually closer to the British Isles.
Lying just 200 miles north of Scotland, the islands have more sheep than people, stunning scenery and miles of empty roads.
The islands recently had a starring role in the new Disney film Peter Pan and Wendy.
The unique landscape was selected to represent Peter Pan’s mythical home of Neverland.
Several Faroese locations feature in the film including Trælanípa, a perpendicular rock wall, which juts 142 metres upwards out of the sea.
The rugged cliffs offer spectacular views and from the edge of Trælanípa, people can see the southernmost part of the islands of Streymoy, Hestur, Koltur, Sandoy, Skúvoy and Suðuroy.
Also in the film are the famous sea stacks, Risin and Kellingin, also known as The Giant & the Witch, located close to Eiði at the north of the islands.
Legend has it the stacks were created when a giant and a witch were turned to stone by the sunlight after trying to steal the Faroe Islands, to take them to Iceland.
Meanwhile, Mykines Island has been described as “the most sacred and fragile of all the places in the Faroe Islands that people can still visit”.
Mykines is home to puffins, and other exciting animals can be seen from the islands, including the biggest animal on the planet, the blue whale.
Killer whales and pilot whales are among a host of other sea animals that swim in the waters around the Faroes, as well as white-sided dolphins.
Atlantic Airways isn’t the only airline opening new routes from the UK to holiday destinations across the globe.
British Airways will be resuming flights from London Stansted for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The flag carrier has confirmed that three new routes will depart from the London airport, with prices starting at £36 for a one-way ticket.
Budget airline Ryanair is launching flights to Spain, Portugal, and Malta, from Norwich Airport.
As it stands, the airport only serves a handful of foreign destinations, which means the Ryanair expansion is great news for holidaymakers in East Anglia.
The flights will run on both Mondays and Fridays, according to the aviation website Simple Flying.
Ryanair is also launching flights from Cornwall Airport and Cardiff Airport, with new routes to Paris and Faro among some of those announced.