The connection to the islands, which are situated 400 miles north of the Scottish capital between Iceland and Norway, will operate on Friday mornings and Monday evenings.

The 18 islands are part of the Danish Kingdom and flights land at Vagar airport, built during World War II by military personnel, many of them Scottish, who were stationed there as part of the UK’s “friendly occupation”. Many islands are linked and they attract walkers, bird watchers and naturalists.

The Atlantic Airways’ Airbus A319 departs Edinburgh at 10.10 on Fridays, arriving at 11.35. It returns at 16.50 on Mondays, arriving at 18.15.

The airline is also offering an onward service to Reykjavik with a connection time of less than one hour on Fridays, with return flights from Reykjavik to Edinburgh on Mondays.

Johanna a Bergi, Atlantic Airways’ chief executive, said: “We’re delighted to be returning to Edinburgh following our successful first season last summer and autumn.

“Edinburgh is the nearest overseas capital to the Faroe Islands and we look forward to continuing to build ever closer ties between our two countries as it becomes even easier for both tourists and business people to make the short journey or to plan a two-centre holiday in the Faroe Islands and Iceland.”