FIRE on the NAT! Where to go in an emergency?

In OPSGROUP, we talk a lot about the North Atlantic. Whether it’s a Plotting Chart you need, or an explanation of the Datalink Mandate, or a summary of big changes stretching back to the dawn of time – we’ve got you covered. We love the NAT so much we even enjoy asking ourselves annoying questions about it over and over again to see if we can answer them (we can).

But here’s something we haven’t fully looked into before – if you’re in big trouble on the NAT (like an engine on fire, for example), where can you go?

Turns out there’s quite a bit of complexity to this. Some airports don’t have amazing levels of fire cover, some are closed at night, and some have weird setups where you have to pay them in advance to make sure they stay open in case you need them.

We’ll start with these odd ones. And we’re going to do everything in local time to keep things easy.

Odd Ones

CYFB/Iqaluit

Airport open: Mon-Fri 08-17, other times 12hrs notice required
RFF: 5
Why odd? So it’s basically closed at night unless you make a special request for them to stay open in case you need them. If extended hours are needed, additional costs will apply to keep staff on standby. Requests to extend operating hours at the airport must be submitted using a specific document for either RFF5 or RFF7. CYFB provides extra RFF coverage at night on average 40 to 50 times a month. The cost for them to stay open with RFF5 is $1714 which gives you a 4 hour block of time. For RFF7 it’s $3427.

BGGH/Nuuk

Airport open: 06-21 every day
RFF: 5 (or RFF 8 with 4 hours notice)
Why odd? Technically it’s open at night, but as it’s a brand new airport, night opening is unrealistic at the moment – especially in winter. In the summer months, when there’s no snow and it’s daylight almost all day every day, there won’t be the same need for runway sweeping and using the airport as a diversion alternate might be more possible because they will only require standby personnel on short notice.

BGBW/Narsarsuaq

Airport open: Mon-Sat 08-17 (yep, closed on Sundays!)
RFF: 7
Why odd? Can be requested to stay open at night most of the time. But watch out! As we reported before, Greenland airports will charge you the better part of $3k if you list either of them on your flight plan as diversion alternates when they’re closed.

BGSF/Sondrestrom

Airport open: Mon-Fri 08-16 (yep, recent change here is that they’re closed on weekends!)
RFF: 5 (or RFF 8 with 4 hours notice)
Why odd? Same as BGBW, can be requested to stay open at nights or on weekends, but same costs will apply.

EGPK/Prestwick

Airport open: H24
RFF: 7
Why odd? Often at night they close the terminals building (they always Notam it) so there are no facilities for diversions at these times.

LPAZ/Santa Maria

Airport open: It’s complicated
RFF: It’s complicated
Why odd? Ok, here we go. So from 0635-2130 they are fully open with RFF 6 (RFF 8 available for a surcharge if you arrange in advance). Then from 2130-0000 the airport is closed but you can request they stay open for around 900 Euros (plus a fee to the handling agent). Then from 0000-0645 the airport is completely closed and cannot accept emergency diverts at all. Bottom line, just go to LPLA/Lajes instead.

Not Odd Ones

Ok great! Here are all the straightforward airports that are open H24 with decent fire cover:

CYYR/Goose Bay
Open H24
RFF 5 (RFF 8 on request)

CYQX/Gander
Open H24
RFF 5 (RFF 6/7/8 with 2hrs notice)

CYDF/Deer Lake
Open H24
RFF 6 (RFF 7 with 30 mins notice)

CYJT/Stephenville
Open H24
RFF 5 (RFF 6 with 30 mins notice)

CYYT/St Johns
Open H24
RFF 7

BIKF/Keflavik
Open H24
RFF 8 daytime 05-19 (RFF 7 overnight 19-05)

EGAA/Belfast
Open H24
RFF 7 (RFF 8/9 with 24hrs notice)

EINN/Shannon
Open H24
RFF 9 (may on occasion be reduced to RFF 7 depending on staffing)

LPLA/Lajes
Airport open 07-21 (but H24 for emergencies)
RFF 8 at all times

So let’s give that map another try, this time with a splash of tasteful orange colour…

So there you have it, friend! While we’re on the subject of Emergency Diverts, you might also be interested to read about NAT Contingency Procedures (what to do when you need to deviate from your ATC clearance due to an emergency). For more info about recent changes to Greenland Airports, click here. And to download the latest OPSGROUP NAT/North Atlantic Plotting and Planning Chart 2025, head over here.

As usual, any questions, let us know at team@ops.group.

One Comment

Douglas Snow says:

22 January, 2025 at 9:38 am

Just be careful as a lot of these airports may exceed the allowable deviation for the ADIRU/IRU/IRS; such as Honeywell boxes for the 777. So while this is a good run down, it might behoove an operator to review their AFM and the age of their MagVar tables in their ADIRU/IRU/IRS. A lot of those airports are already on the bad airports list for the B777, and with Honeywell saying maybe in 2026 we’ll have an updated ADIRU, its getting more difficult to cross the NAT for some aircraft, unless the few remaining airports are VFR…

FIRE on the NAT! Where to go in an emergency?