Wick John O Groats airport flying high in new TV series
A NEW BBC Alba series offers a behind-the-scenes insight into the daily movements at Wick and other Highlands and islands airports
Titled Puirt-adhair – the Gaelic translates as Highland airports – Wick John O’Groats features in episodes one, five and eight.
The episodes focus on the activities of Far North Aviation (FNA) founder Andrew Bruce as he refuels a wide range of aircraft from offshore helicopters to corporate charters.
The show also sees Mr Bruce – who retired on August 1 after working at FNA for 27 years – take to the skies in his own aircraft.
In the first 30-minute episode – which airs tonight at 8.30pm – Wick stars alongside Inverness and the Highland Gliding Club near Elgin.
“The television company, Midas Media, contacted Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) to do a series at all of their airports,” Mr Bruce said.
“A lot of people don’t realise how Wick gets international air traffic routing through for fuel. There are, on average, 40 international flights a month stopping at the airport to refuel and it’s great for the Caithness economy.”
Mr Bruce and his wife Moira were instrumental in creating a facility that contains up to 160,000 litres of aviation fuel and have now sold FNA.
“We got a lot of exposure on another series for the Discovery channel called Dangerous Flights. Then we appeared in the first series of the current BBC Alba show and now the current one, which was actually filmed last year,” said Mr Bruce.