Kjøllefjord Airfield ( no, Kjøllefjord flyplass) is a disused

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

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 surface ...

(airfield) located at

Kjøllefjord Kjøllefjord is the administrative centre of Lebesby Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located on the northwestern part of the Nordkinn Peninsula, on the shore of a small fjord which empties into the larger Laksefj ...

Lebesby Lebesby ( sme, Davvesiida and fkv, Lebespyy) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kjøllefjord. Other villages in the municipality include Ifjord, Kunes, Lebesby ...

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 ...

. It consisted of a gravel runway and a simple small building as a terminal. Plans for an airport in Kjøllefjord were first launched in the mid-1960s. The

Norving Norving A/S was a regional airline that operated in Norway between 1971 and 1993. It had roots back to the establishment of Varangfly in 1959. At its peak, the company had eight bases and 27 aircraft. History Varangfly was founded on 24 July 1959 ...

airline was the main proponent as they intended to operate an

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

and

air ambulance Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...

service. Construction started in 1973 and the airport opened in 1974. In that same year, another nearby airport opened; the larger

Mehamn Airport Mehamn Airport ( no, Mehamn lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving the village of Mehamn in Gamvik Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It also serves the villages Kjøllefjord and Gamvik. The airport is outside of the village o ...

is only 30 kilometers away and Kjøllefjord therefore was little used. It was abandoned in the 1980s.

History

The first official proposals for an airport at Kjøllefjord were launched by a

Finnmark County Municipality Finnmark County Municipality ( no, Finnmark fylkeskommune, sme, Finnmárkku fylkkagielda) was the regional governing administration for the old Finnmark county in Norway. It was dissolved on 31 December 2019 when Finnmark county was merged into ...

-appointed committee which in published a report in 1966. It recommended that six regional airport be built in

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

, including both Mehamn and Kjøllefjord. As Finnmark had lowest priority on the state-financed construction of regional airports, Norving took initiative to start construction of smaller and simpler airfields in select communities, including Kjøllefjord. The airline therefore contacted the municipality in December 1969 and proposed that an airfield be built within a year, which it could operate with its

Britten-Norman Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

aircraft. The airline also looked into two other locations on Nordkinnhalvøya, Mehamn and Gamvik. When the

Civil Aviation Administration The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the Chinese civil aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents. As the aviation authority responsible f ...

started planning an airport for the area, it considered both Kjøllefjord, Mehamn and Gamvik as locations for the regional airport, deciding in the end to build at Mehamn. Planning of the airport was started by A/L Kjøllefjord Flyplass in early 1973. Its first main task was to raise funding.Melling: 107 In addition to donations from the community, Lebesby Municipality gave a NOK 1-million grant. Construction started in the summer of 1973, but an early winter forced completion to be delayed until early 1974. The airport opened the same year as the regional

, located away. The construction of Mehamn Airport included upgrading the road from Mehamn to Kjøllefjord and Gamvik to all-year standards. The airfield was occasionally used for ambulance flights, although this was normally only done when Mehamn Airport was closed because of fog.Melling: 108 The airport received permission in 1978 to operate public flights. Norving applied for permission to operate taxi route flights, but this was rejected by the Ministry of Transport and Communications because it would drain part of the catchment area of Mehamn Airport. Kjøllefjord Airport became disused during the 1980s, although both the runway and terminal remain, in a dilapidated state. For a while it was used as a storage area during construction of a windmill park.

Facilities

The airport had a gravel runway. A simple shed was used as a terminal, which included waiting areas for passengers and radio equipment.

References

;Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kjollefjord Airport Airports in Troms og Finnmark Airports established in 1974 1974 establishments in Norway Lebesby Defunct airports in Norway