Avinor AS is a state-owned

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

that operates most of the civil airports in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The Norwegian state, via the

Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Transportation (; ) is a Norwegian ministry established in 1946, and is responsible for transportation in Norway. The ministry was responsible for communication infrastructure until may 2019, when the responsibility ...

, controls 100 percent of the

share capital A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. "Share capit ...

. Avinor was created on 1 January 2003, by the

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the Norwegian Civil Aviation Administration known as ''Luftfartsverket''. Its head office is in

Bjørvika Bjørvika is a neighborhood in the Sentrum borough of Oslo, Norway. The area is an inlet in the inner Oslofjord, situated between Gamlebyen and Akershus Fortress. It serves as an outlet for the river Akerselva. Since the 2000s, it has been und ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, located on the seaside of

Oslo Central Station Oslo Central Station ( no, Oslo sentralstasjon, abbreviated ) is the main railway station in Oslo, and the largest railway station within the entire Norwegian railway system. It connects with Jernbanetorget station. It's the terminus of Dramm ...

. Avinor owns and operates 44

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

s in Norway, fourteen in association with the

Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) ( no, Luftforsvaret, , The Air Defence) is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximatel ...

, and is responsible for

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

services in Norway. In addition to the 44 airports, it operates three

Area Control Center In air traffic control, an area control center (ACC), also known as a center or en-route center, is a facility responsible for controlling aircraft flying in the airspace of a given flight information region (FIR) at high altitudes between ai ...

s: Bodø Air Traffic Control Center, Stavanger Air Traffic Control Center and Oslo ATCC. , the chief executive officer was

Sverre Quale Sverre, Sverrir or Sverri is a Nordic name from the Old Norse ''Sverrir'', meaning "wild, swinging, spinning". It is a common name in Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands; it is less common in Denmark and Sweden. It can also be a surname. Sverre ma ...

who has been in the job since 18 April 2006. He was previously the head of the Norwegian Accident Investigation Board. As of 2011, Sverre Quale has been employed as the Chief Executive at Multiconsult. His replacement, Dag Falk-Petersen, has served as CEO of CHC Helicopters. In February 2021, Abraham Foss took on the role of CEO of the company. Avinor has about 3000 employees, including air traffic control, air navigation services, rescue, maintenance, administration and other airport operations personnel.

History

On 1 July 1947, the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communication created the Aviation Directorate (''Luftfartsdirektoratet'') to take over the responsibility for the civilian airports in Norway. Until then the

Norwegian Ministry of Defence The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence ( no, Det kgl. Forsvarsdepartement) is a Norway, Norwegian government ministry in charge of the formation and implementation of national security and defence policy, and for the overall management and contr ...

was responsible for operating airports, including the civilian ones. This responsibility had been delegated to the Aviation Council (''Luftfartsrådet'') within the ministry. The first director was Einar Bøe (1947–1964), followed by Erik Willoch (1964–1989), Ove Liavaag (1989–2000), Randi Flesland (2000–2005),

(2006–2010), Dag Falk-Petersen (2011-2021) and Abraham Foss (2021-). The organisation changed its name to Luftfartsverket in 1967. In 1997,

Oslo Airport, Fornebu Oslo Airport, Fornebu ( no, Oslo lufthavn, Fornebu), was the primary international airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and the area has since been redevelo ...

and the then under construction

Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Oslo Airport ( no, Oslo lufthavn; ), alternatively referred to as Oslo Gardermoen Airport or simply Gardermoen, is the international airport serving Oslo, Norway, the capital and most populous city in the country. A hub for Flyr, Norse Atl ...

, where merged into a separate subsidiary, Oslo Lufthavn AS. This company still operates Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. On 14 December 2005, CEO Randi Flesland resigned after an ongoing dispute with employees. She was temporarily replaced by

Nic. Nilsen Nicolay William Nilsen (born 1944) is a Norwegian businessperson. He is the current CEO of ''Oslo Lufthavn AS'', the company that manages the Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. He started working at Gardermoen in 1995, overseeing the airport's transition f ...

until Sverre Quale took over.

Awards

Avinor receives the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame™

* Palladium Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy™ (class of 2016)

References

External links

*
About Avinor
* {{authority control Airport operators Government-owned companies of Norway Air navigation service providers Ministry of Transport (Norway)