Atlantic Airways

Atlantic Airways is one of those airlines you do not collect by chance in passing. Four jets, a home airport on the edge of the North Atlantic and a route network that follows the season and the weather – anyone who gets an aircraft with the code FLI in front of their lens has usually been waiting for it on purpose. This page shows you how the airline of the Faroe Islands is set up, which aircraft it flies and why its home airport Vágar has a special reputation among pilots and spotters.

Atlantic Airways at a glance

Atlantic Airways is the airline of the Faroe Islands. The island group between Scotland, Norway and Iceland belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark but handles most matters itself. In Faroese the airline is called Atlantsflog, and its headquarters is in Sørvágur on the island of Vágar – right next to the archipelago’s only airport.

The company was founded on November 10, 1987. In the early years the Danish Cimber Air was involved as a partner, and soon afterward the Faroese government took over the company completely. The first flight went from Vágar to Copenhagen on March 28, 1988, back then with a BAe 146. That connection is still the backbone of the network today.

For a long time, Atlantic Airways shared the routes between the Faroe Islands and Denmark with competitors, including Maersk Air. After Maersk withdrew from the Faroe routes in 2004, Atlantic Airways was for some time the only carrier on these connections. In 2007, part of the shares was placed on the Icelandic stock exchange, but control remained with the government. Since 2015, Jóhanna á Bergi has led the company.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code RC: appears in the flight number, so on display boards, tickets and in schedules.
• ICAO code FLI: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign FAROELINE: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio – a nice hint at its origins.

For spotters, the registration is what is most interesting. Because the Faroe Islands do not keep their own aircraft register, the aircraft are registered in Denmark and carry the prefix OY-. The airline’s current Airbus jets carry the registrations OY-RCJ to OY-RCM. An OY- registration alone therefore does not tell you whether you are looking at an aircraft from Copenhagen or from Vágar. How registrations are structured in general is explained in the guide understanding aircraft registrations.

The fleet: a small Airbus family

With just four jets, Atlantic Airways is one of the smallest airlines that independently operates an Airbus fleet. According to the airline, the fleet (as of 2026) looks like this:

Type	Number	Seats	Spotter note
Airbus A320	2	174 and 180 respectively	OY-RCJ and OY-RCM; classic A320 with slimmer engines, the airline’s first A320 arrived in December 2016
Airbus A320neo	2	174	OY-RCK (built 2019) and OY-RCL (2020); newer generation with clearly larger engine nacelles
Leonardo AW139 (helicopter)	2	up to 12	Inter-island service, charter, search and rescue missions

The Airbus A320 and the A320neo differ on the outside only in details. The surest way to recognize the neo is by its large, rounded engines, which hang farther forward of the wing leading edge. You will find detailed instructions in the article A320neo or ceo?. The manufacturer of both types is Airbus.

Each of the airline’s aircraft also carries a christened name, such as “William” or “Elinborg”. With so few aircraft, it is worth noting the names together with the registration – that turns the sighting into a complete logbook entry.

From the BAe 146 to Airbus: the fleet history

If you know older photos of Atlantic Airways, you see a completely different aircraft type there: the four-engine BAe 146. The British regional jet was made for Vágar, because it coped well with short runways. From 1988 into the 2010s, the BAe 146-200 was the airline’s workhorse. Later the further-developed versions Avro RJ85 and Avro RJ100 were added.

The turning point was the runway extension at Vágar. Until 2011 the runway was only around 1,250 meters long, afterward just under 1,800 meters. Only then could Atlantic Airways deploy the Airbus A319 from March 2012 and offer more seats and more distant destinations, such as sun destinations on the Mediterranean. The A319s were in service until the early 2020s, after which A320s and A320neos took over completely.

Period (per reference works)	Type	Significance
from 1988 to the 2010s	BAe 146-200	First type, first flight to Copenhagen
2000s to 2010s	Avro RJ85, Avro RJ100	Modernized versions of the 146
2012 to early 2020s	Airbus A319	First Airbus, made possible by the longer runway
since December 2016	Airbus A320	More seats with the same runway length
since 2019	Airbus A320neo	Current generation

The history also includes a serious accident: on October 10, 2006, a chartered BAe 146-200 of the airline overran the end of the runway while landing at Stord (Norway). Four people died. According to the investigations, the cause lay with the spoilers, which did not deploy on landing and thus weakened the braking effect.

Helicopters: scheduled flights between the islands

A special feature you will find at hardly any other European airline: Atlantic Airways also operates a helicopter service. It connects small islands and settlements that can otherwise only be reached by boat – such as Mykines, Skúvoy, Stóra Dímun, Svínoy or Fugloy. The rotations begin and end at Vágar, and Tórshavn is also served. Flights operate on fixed weekdays, in summer partly with different routes.

For a long time, the airline flew Bell 412 helicopters for this. In 2015 and 2016 they were replaced by two Leonardo AW139s, which according to the airline carry up to 12 passengers each. Besides scheduled service, they handle charters as well as search and rescue missions. The manufacturer is Leonardo.

If you are traveling in the Faroe Islands, it is worth looking up: the AW139s are an everyday sight there. You will find tips on photographing rotorcraft in the guide spotting helicopters.

Vágar: a home airport with character

Vágar Airport (IATA FAE, ICAO EKVG) lies a little east of Sørvágur, around 46 kilometers from the capital Tórshavn. It was built during World War II by British troops; the location was chosen back then because it was hard to see from the sea. After the war the airfield lay idle until it reopened in 1963 as a civilian airport. In 2014, a new terminal went into operation.

What makes Vágar well known among pilots is the combination of a short runway, high terrain and rough weather. Runway 12/30 is just under 1,800 meters long. All around, the terrain rises steeply, wind from changing directions causes turbulence, and fog can complicate operations for days.

Satellite navigation instead of visual flight

At Vágar, Atlantic Airways has relied on RNP procedures (Required Navigation Performance) since 2012. The aircraft follows a satellite-based path with very tight tolerances – even through turns that a classic instrument approach cannot represent. That way mountains can be flown around precisely and approaches can be carried out even in poorer visibility. Atlantic Airways is considered one of the first airlines in Europe to introduce such procedures. Other carriers that serve Vágar need their own equipment, training and approvals for this.

How a classic instrument approach works is explained in the article on the ILS approach. And why landings in strong crosswinds look so spectacular, you can read under crosswind landings.

How to recognize Atlantic Airways

The simplest rule of thumb: a jet with the titles “Atlantic Airways” is always an Airbus A320 family aircraft. The airline does not currently operate any other jets. On the apron in Copenhagen or Billund, the registration also helps: an OY- together with the tracker code FLI is practically unambiguous.

There is a risk of confusion mainly with the name. The Norwegian Norse Atlantic Airways flies long haul with the Boeing 787 – it has nothing to do with the Faroe Islands. Air Atlanta Icelandic also sounds similar, but is an Icelandic wet-lease provider with widebody aircraft.

Route network and where you can spot the airline

The network is small and strongly seasonal. The backbone is the connection to Copenhagen, plus flights to Billund and – depending on the season – to Aalborg, Edinburgh, Paris, London, Barcelona, Mallorca or Gran Canaria. Iceland and Norway have also been on the program time and again. At times Atlantic Airways even flew seasonally to the USA; that connection has since been discontinued. Charter flights are added on top, mainly from Copenhagen and Billund.

For spotters in Central Europe, Copenhagen Airport is the best address. There Atlantic Airways shares the apron with SAS and many other Nordic carriers. A good starting point is the spot Flyvergrillen, and more tips are collected in the Copenhagen guide for spotters. The airline is also a regular visitor at Billund Airport, seasonally also at Edinburgh Airport.

Atlantic Airways in the North Atlantic

Atlantic Airways is part of a small circle of airlines that connect remote island regions in the North Atlantic. Air Greenland, Greenland’s likewise Danish-registered airline, is comparable. There are close ties to Iceland: Icelandair already cooperated with Atlantic Airways in the 1990s and is a codeshare partner today. You reach Iceland via Keflavik Airport.

A look at Norway and Scotland is also worthwhile: Widerøe and Loganair likewise fly under rough conditions to short runways. If you collect such airlines on purpose, you end up with an exciting North Atlantic list – with Atlantic Airways as one of the hardest entries.

Atlantic Airways does not belong to an alliance. Instead, the airline relies on individual partnerships, including codeshares with Air France and KLM. With these, travelers from Paris and Amsterdam reach the Faroe Islands on a single ticket.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing Atlantic Airways with Norse Atlantic Airways – Norse is a Norwegian long-haul airline with the Boeing 787.
• Automatically assuming OY- means a Danish airline – the Faroe Islands and Greenland also use the Danish register.
• Logging an A320 as an A320neo – the engine size decides, not the paint.
• Looking for the airline by the BAe 146 – the four-engine jets are history, today only Airbus flies.
• Searching for the RC flight number in the tracker – the ICAO code FLI usually appears there.
• Overlooking the helicopters – the AW139s belong to the same airline and also count for collectors.

Conclusion

Atlantic Airways is small but independent: a national airline for a small island group in the North Atlantic, with four Airbus jets, two helicopters and a home airport that counts among the more demanding in Europe. For spotters it is a manageable but not entirely easy collecting goal. If you keep an eye on registrations and the ICAO code and use Copenhagen as your base, you have a good chance of getting all four jets into your logbook.