Nordic Air A/S was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

cargo airline Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airline cargo traf ...

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 from 1970 to 1973 with a

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

, later replaced with two

Lockheed L-188 Electra The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes that led to expensiv ...

. The airline was not allowed to fly scheduled routes, and relied on charter flights. The most common transport was fish, from

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. The company was bought and merged into Fred Olsen Air Transport in 1973, after Nordic Air had failed to receive permission for its Nordic Express scheduled flights.

History

The airline was started by the brothers Arne and Einar Karlsen from

Stokke Stokke is a town in Sandefjord municipality in Vestfold County, Norway. It lies in-between Sandefjord and Tønsberg, two of Vestfold's largest cities. It was a municipality from 1838 to 2016. The administrative centre of the municipality was the ...

. They had interests in Vestfold Industrier, and wanted to expanded into air cargo. They business idea was to transport fresh fish from Northern Norway to Southern Norway and onwards to Europe. Thore Virik was hired as chief pilot. He and Chief Salesman Jan Larsen also had an ownership in Nordic Air. The company built a hangar at Sandefjord Airport, Torp and bought a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster, with registration LN-MOB and named ''Moby''. The company applied for a

concession Concession may refer to: General * Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...

to start regular flights, but were denied this by 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 f ...

. Instead, they were forced to only make ''ad hoc'' flights. The first years, the airline mainly flew fish from Northern Norway as well as from Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In addition to fish, cargo was horses, cattle and other animals. In 1972, the airline replaced its Skymaster with a Lockheed L-188 Electra. The company attempted again to apply for concession, based on a concept that would be called Nordic Express. This was rejected; the ministry stated that the cargo services provided by

Scandinavian Airlines System Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...

Braathens SAFE Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, was a Norwegian airline which operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in 2004 to become SAS Braathens. Fo ...

and

Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and is the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 40 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, and 3 Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, serves over 40 d ...

on their passenger planes was sufficient for the domestic market. In 1973, the airline was sold to Fred Olsen Air Transport, which was based at

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 ...

. Nordic Air was the only cargo airline to operate a base at Sandefjord Airport, Torp.

Fleet

References

{{Portal bar, Aviation, Companies, Norway Defunct airlines of Norway Airlines established in 1970 Airlines disestablished in 1973 Sandefjord Airport, Torp 1973 disestablishments in Norway Companies based in Sandefjord Norwegian companies established in 1970