The first flight to land on Tiree was in 1929. The Tiree Association chartered a plane to visit the summer sports on the Reef. Islanders gathered on the top of Cnoc nan Deilgeanan (hill of the thistles) in Crossapol, just north of the Camp, to witness the landing. The captain, AN Kingwill, later did a short display of aerial stunts.
In 1935 the chief pilot for Northern and Scottish Airways, David Barclay, flew on a trip to Tiree looking for possible landing sites. Islanders were woken early as he flew for some time low over the island, landing on Gott Bay. On July 1st 1936 Barclay flew the first commercial flight to Tiree landing on the Reef in a DH 89 Dragon Rapide, a twin engine biplane that could carry eight passengers.
The modern day airport is located at the heart of the island and provides a valuable link to the mainland with daily flights (Sunday flights only in the summer months) to Glasgow. The service is operated by FlyBe/British Airways using either the small Twin Otter or the slightly larger Saab 340.
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