Over a three-year programme AVISU has supported SaxaVord Space Port from initial airspace concept through to the issuing of its spaceport licence — a body of work that helped establish the UK’s first licensed vertical-launch spaceport at Unst, Shetland Islands.
Vertical-launch operations from a coastal range — the kind of activity SaxaVord Space Port is licensed to host from Unst.
AVISU was first selected in 2022 to lead the Airspace Change Proposal (ACP), and went on to deliver the full UK CAA CAP 1616 process through to implementation — engaging the local Unst community alongside national and international aviation stakeholders, the UK Space Agency and the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
SaxaVord Space Port sits at Lamba Ness on Unst — the most northerly inhabited island of the Shetland archipelago.
From airspace concept to operational range
AVISU designed the launch range and the airspace structures required to accommodate vertical launch operations safely alongside existing North Atlantic, Shetland and UK traffic. The team then supported SaxaVord’s certification as a licensed range operator, producing the supporting safety assessment that underpinned the range licence award.
In parallel, AVISU supported SaxaVord’s certification as a spaceport, contributing to the safety and airspace-integration evidence used in the application that culminated in the issuing of the spaceport licence.
Simulation, trajectory and international coordination
The programme drew on the full breadth of AVISU’s capability:
Airspace and traffic simulation using the AVISIM platform to quantify the interaction between launch operations and conventional traffic.
Launch trajectory analysis and dispersion modelling to size hazard areas and inform the airspace design under representative launch profiles.
International coordination with neighbouring Air Traffic Control state authorities to align hazard areas, NOTAM activation procedures and contingency arrangements across the affected oceanic and adjacent FIR boundaries.
Safety assessment across the range, airspace and spaceport applications, integrated with the wider CAP 1616 evidence pack.
A milestone for UK commercial spaceflight
AVISU CEO and Owner, Stephen O’Flynn, said: “Closing out three years of support to SaxaVord — from airspace concept through to range licence and spaceport licence — has been one of the most rewarding programmes we have delivered. It demonstrates how established airspace design, simulation and safety assurance disciplines translate directly into the emerging commercial space sector, and underpins the UK Space Agency’s National Space Strategy.”
The programme reinforces AVISU’s position at the intersection of conventional aviation and commercial space, where the same regulatory, simulation and safety disciplines that protect existing airspace users are essential to integrating launch activity safely with them.
