Per Arne Watle (born 1948) is a Norwegian businessperson and former politician for the Centre Party. He is best known as the CEO of Widerøe from 1997 to 2008.

Career

He hails from Trondheim, and his father was involved in transport as director of

Trondheim Bilruter Trondheim Bilruter or TBR was a municipally owned bus company in Trondheim, Norway between 1951 and 1974. It was merged with the tram operators Trondheim Sporvei and A/S Graakalbanen in 1974 to form Trondheim Trafikkselskap. It is now part of Te ...

and

Trondheim Trafikkselskap Trondheim Trafikkselskap or TT was the city public transport company for Trondheim, Norway between 1974 and 2001. It operated both the city buses, and the Trondheim Tramway until 1988. The company was owned by the city council. TT was founded in ...

. He took his education at the

University of Trondheim A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, and with the cand.philol. degree he worked as a school teacher in

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 ...

for several years. He then worked as information director at

SINTEF SINTEF ( no, Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning), headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is an independent research organization founded in 1950 that conducts contract research and development projects. SINTEF has 2000 employees from 7 ...

in Trondheim from 1977 to 1983 and as a personal secretary (now known as political advisor) in the Ministry of Transport and Communications from 1983 to 1985, under

Willoch's Second Cabinet Willoch's Second Cabinet was a majority government, majority, Centre-right politics, centre-right government consisting of the Conservative Party of Norway, Conservative, Centre Party (Norway), Centre, Christian Democratic Party (Norway), Christia ...

. In Trondheim he had chaired the local chapter of the Centre Party for six years. While working as personal secretary he also took a degree in economics at the Norwegian School of Management. In 1985 he was hired in Scandinavian Airlines System, and in 1986 he was promoted to director of SAS Norge. He was then director of marketing in Tine Norske Meierier from 1990 to 1994 and director in

Gilde Gilde is a brand name used by the Norwegian meat processing company Nortura on its red meats; including beef, pork, lamb, veal, reindeer. Until 2006 the brand was managed by the agricultural cooperative Gilde Norsk Kjøtt who then merged with ...

from 1994 to 1997. He has been the board chairman of

Norsk Rikstoto The Norsk Rikstoto (lit. 'Norwegian National Tote') is a foundation that supervises parimutuel betting on animal racing in Norway. It was established on 24 September 1982 by the Norwegian Trotting Association and the Norwegian Jockey Club to run ...

, and from 1988 to 1994 he held the same position in ''

Nationen ''Nationen'' is a Norwegian daily newspaper with a particular focus on agriculture and rural districts. Its circulation in 2015 was 12,954, an increase of 281 copies from 2014. History and profile ''Nationen'' was founded in 1918.

''. In 1997 he was hired as CEO of Widerøe. Soon after his takeover, the company was sold by Fred. Olsen & Co. and bought by the

SAS Group SAS AB (Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag), trading as SAS Group, is an airline holding company headquartered in the SAS Frösundavik Office Building in Solna Municipality, Sweden. It is the owner of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines and S ...

. Within the SAS Group, Widerøe eventually took over the regional route operations in Northern Norway, having been run under the name SAS Commuter. He remained in Widerøe for eleven years, and also chaired the Federation of Norwegian Aviation Industries. In 2008 he resigned as CEO of Widerøe. He also stepped down as president of the European Regions Airline Association. Later that year he was hired as head of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

's Industry Consultation Body on the Single European Sky project. He is also the chair of Hurtigruten. He resides in

Lommedalen Lommedalen is a rural community in a small valley in Bærum municipality in the county of Akershus, Norway. The population is about 3,000 people. Lommedalen valley opens up at Bærums Verk and runs about 5 kilometers to the north. Lommedalen incl ...

. Hobbies include English setter breeding and ''

lagopus ''Lagopus'' is a small genus of birds in the grouse subfamily commonly known as ptarmigans (). The genus contains three living species with numerous described subspecies, all living in tundra or cold upland areas. Taxonomy and etymology The ge ...

'' hunting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watle, Per Arne 1948 births Living people Widerøe people Norwegian airline chief executives Centre Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Trondheim Norwegian University of Science and Technology alumni BI Norwegian Business School alumni Norwegian non-fiction writers