Stornoway (Scottish Gaelic: Steòrnabhagh) is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The town's population is around 9,000, making it the largest settlement in the Western Isles (with a third of the population) and the third largest town in the Scottish Highlands after Inverness and Fort William. The civil parish of Stornoway, including various nearby villages, has a population of approximately 12,000. Stornoway is an important port and the major town and administrative centre of the Outer Hebrides. It is home to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the Western Isles Council) and a variety of educational, sporting and media establishments. Christian observance of the Sabbath is an important aspect of the town's culture.
Today the harbour hosts a fishing fleet (and associated shoreside services) somewhat reduced from its heyday, a small marina and moorings for pleasure craft, a small shipyard and slipway, three larger piers for commercial traffic and Stornoway Lifeboat Station, run by the RNLI and home to a Severn class lifeboat, Tom Sanderson. Her Majesty's Coastguard operates a Maritime Rescue Sub Centre from a building near the harbour.
A lighthouse, seaweed processing plant and a renewable energy manufacturing yard are situated on Arnish Point at the mouth of the harbour and visually dominate the approaches. Arnish Point is also earmarked by AMEC as the landfall for its proposed private sub-sea cable which would export the electricity generated from the Lewis Windpower wind farm with a planning application for 181 turbines submitted to the Scottish Executive.
Stornoway Airport (IATA: SYY, ICAO: EGPO) is an airfield located 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) east of the burgh of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, in Scotland. The Royal Air Force maintained an RAF airbase at the site of the airport until 1998.
Stornoway Airport is owned by HIAL, a company controlled by the Scottish Executive. The airfield was first opened in 1937, and used mainly for military purposes. NATO aircraft used the airport for missions over the North Atlantic and for stop overs to Greenland and the United States.
Stornoway Airport was also the location of an emergency landing made by a Lufthansa Boeing 747-200 in 1981, due to a medical emergency onboard. Many people visited the airport to see the stranded jet. The aircraft was en route from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Frankfurt Airport when it landed. It stayed at the airport for 2 days.
