GuardAir AS was a Norwegian

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

which operated between 1992 and 2001. Based at

Sandefjord Airport, Torp Sandefjord Airport, Torp ( no, Sandefjord lufthavn, Torp; ) is an international airport located northeast of Sandefjord, Norway and south of Oslo. The airport features a runway aligned 18/36. Torp partially serves as a regional airport for Ves ...

, it operated four

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

s and served eight scheduled destinations in 2001. The airline was established with a Cessna 210 to search for stolen vehicles. After merging with Wing-Tech in 1997, the airline procured a Dornier 228 and started flying newspapers. Its first scheduled service connected Skien with

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 ...

, but lasted only year after the October 1998 start-up. The airline then flew flights from

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

to Ålesund, Kristiansund and an international route to

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. GuardAir won a government contract to fly to Røst and Fagernes from 2000. Finally the airline established a route from

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

to Ålesund and Kristiansund. The airline lost an accumulated 30 million

Norwegian krone The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''� ...

and filed for bankruptcy on 2 April 2001.

History

The airline was founded in 1992 by Einar Rønnestad, initially operating out of Sandefjord Airport, Torp. GuardAir started with a Cessna 210 that it operated for the insurance company

Storebrand Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, until 1999 and ...

to find stolen cars and boats. The company bought a

Piper PA-31 Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...

in 1995. It merged with Wing-Tech in 1997, making Bjørn Wasler a co-owner.Tjomsland: 216 An important contract was signed with the newspapers ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

'', ''

Bergens Tidende ''Bergens Tidende'' is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo. ''Bergens Tidende'' is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end ...

'' and '' Stavanger Aftenblad'' to fly them each night. This was done with a triangular services from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen to Bergen Airport, Flesland and

Stavanger Airport, Sola Stavanger Airport ( no, Stavanger lufthavn; ), commonly just known as Sola, is an international airport located in Rogaland county, Norway. The airport is located southwest of the centre of the city of Stavanger inside the neighboring munici ...

before returning to Oslo. This route led to the procurement of a Dornier 228 in September 1997. Soon a second Dornier was needed for the traffic. Guardair Do-228-212 LN-BER

By 1998 the

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

-based shipping owner

Bjarne Rieber Bjarne is a Nordic male name, a variant of Bjorn, and can refer to the following people: *Bjarne Andersson, a cross-country skier *Bjarne Berg-Sæther, a Norwegian politician *Bjarne Berntsen, a Norwegian football coach and former player *Bjarn ...

had bought a third of the airline.

's main airport was moved from

Fornebu Fornebu (local form ''Fornebo'') is a peninsular area in the suburban municipality of Bærum in Norway, bordering western parts of Oslo. Oslo Airport, Fornebu (FBU) served as the main airport for Oslo and the country since before World War II and ...

to Gardermoen on 8 October 1998. This caused the driving time to the main airport from among other places

Grenland Grenland is a traditional district in the county of Vestfold og Telemark, in the south-east of Norway. Located in the southeastern part of the county, Grenland is composed of the municipalities Skien, Porsgrunn, Bamble, and Siljan. Sometimes the ...

to increase by about an hour. GuardAir was one of two airlines which believed that the distance was sufficient to allow for a feeder air route out of Skien Airport, Geiterygen. Both GuardAir and

Teddy Air Teddy Air AS was a regional airline, based at Skien Airport, Geiteryggen, in Norway. Operating between 1989 and 2004, the company operated Britten-Norman Islander, Embraer 110 and Saab 340 aircraft. The company started by providing a scheduled se ...

launched their services on 25 October, with GuardAir flying three round trips daily with a Dornier 228. Teddy Air operated an

Embraer 110 The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max Ho ...

and had nearly the same departure times. Within a month Teddy Air had withdrawn from the Oslo route. Starting in 1999 also introduced scheduled flights out of Sandefjord. This consisted of a triangular route to

Ålesund Airport, Vigra Ålesund Airport ( nn, Ålesund lufthamn, ), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the island of Vigra in Giske Municipality and fe ...

and Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget, as well as an international service to

Göteborg Landvetter Airport Göteborg Landvetter Airport () is an international airport serving the Gothenburg (Swedish: ''Göteborg'') region in Sweden. With just over 6.8 million passengers in 2018 it is Sweden's second-largest airport after Stockholm–Arlanda. Landvette ...

.Tjomsland: 220 Stein Matre bought part of the company in 2000, and decided to bid for some of the public service obligations that were being auctioned away by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The company was awarded two routes, from Bodø Airport to

Røst Airport Røst Airport ( no, Røst lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving Røst Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The airport is located on the northern edge of the main island of Røstlandet, just north of the main village of Røstlandet. I ...

, and from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen to

Fagernes Airport, Leirin Fagernes Airport, Leirin ( no, Fagernes lufthavn, Leirin; ) is a general aviation airport in Fagernes, in the municipality of Nord-Aurdal, Innlandet county, Norway. It has been an airport for passenger flights, serving Fagernes and the surroundin ...

, taking effect from 1 April 2000.Tjomsland: 216–217 The Røst route resulted in the company having to establish a base at Røst Airport. Starting in November 2000, GuardAir started flights from

Trondheim Airport, Værnes Trondheim Airport ( no, Trondheim lufthavn; ) is an international airport serving Trondheim, a city and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The airport is located in Værnes, Trøndelag, Værnes, a vill ...

to Kristiansund and Ålesund, with one daily service. By 2001 the airline was operating four Dornier 228s. The rapid expansion caused increasing financial problems for the airline. Few of the routes were profitable, and especially the Gothenburg route ran with a heavy loss. It was therefore terminated in early 2001. The new base at Bodø Airport and leasing of additional aircraft also added to the financial strain. By March the airline stated that it needed to refinance of 20 million kroner or carry out a merger. The company filed for bankruptcy on 2 April 2001 after the company had lost 30 million kroner.Tjomsland: 217

Destinations

The following destinations were served by GuardAir as scheduled services.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Portal bar, Aviation, Companies, Norway Defunct airlines of Norway Airlines established in 1992 Airlines disestablished in 2001 2001 disestablishments in Norway Companies based in Sandefjord Norwegian companies established in 1992