Svolvær Airport ( no, Svolvær lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving the town of Svolvær in

Vågan Municipality Vågan ( sme, Vuogát) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Svolvær. Some of the villages in Vågan include Digermulen, ...

(and the

Lofoten Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvær ...

region surrounding Svolvær) in

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

county,

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 ...

Service

The airport is operated by

Avinor Avinor AS is a state-owned limited company that operates most of the civil airports in Norway. The Norwegian state, via the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, controls 100 percent of the share capital. Avinor was created on 1 ...

. It is served by Widerøe with

Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

aircraft connecting the community to

Bodø Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland count ...

and other communities in Nordland. The services are all on subsidized public service obligation routes administered by the Norwegian Ministry of Transportation and Communication. The airport also has direct flights to

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 ...

. In 2014, Svolvær Airport had 74,496 passengers. In 2007, a new road (

Lofoten Mainland Connection Lofoten Mainland Connection ( no, Lofotens fastlandsforbindelse) or Lofast is a part of European route E10 that connects the Norwegian archipelago of Lofoten to the mainland, giving direct access to Lofoten from the surrounding municipalities. The c ...

) opened which allows driving to the Harstad/Narvik Airport, but Svolvær Airport has kept its passenger figures.

Airlines and destinations

Ground transportation

There is no bus service to the airport, but taxis are available. The airport is located at Helle, about east of the town.

Statistics

Future

Avinor is planning building a new primary airport to serve Lofoten and possibly also Vesterålen. The region wants to be more attractive on the conference market which would create more job opportunities outside the tourist season, and there is a need to adopt airports to modern aircraft types. Two locations have been put forward,

Gimsøya Gimsøya is an island in Vågan Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Gimsøya is situated between the islands of Austvågøya and Vestvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. The island has a population (2016) of 181. The European route E10 ...

() and Hadselsanden (). The former could replace

Leknes Airport Leknes Airport ( no, Leknes lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving the town of Leknes and the surrounding areas in the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. The airport is located just outside Leknes in Vestvågøy municipality. ...

and Svolvær Airport, Helle, the latter could also replace

Stokmarknes Airport Stokmarknes Airport ( no, Stokmarknes lufthavn; ) is an airport in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the le ...

. As both alternatives imply direct services to Oslo, the leakage to

Evenes Airport Harstad/Narvik Airport ( no, Harstad/Narvik lufthavn; ) is an international airport located in Evenes Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The airport serves the towns of Harstad and Narvik. It is co-located with Evenes Air Station of the R ...

would be reduced. Gimsøy was the most favoured alternative since Stokmarknes needs ferry access if its airport is replaced, or a future tunnel which seems to expensive, and because Hadselsanden is fairly distant from Leknes (). However weather recordings has shown that Gimsøy, located at the big ocean, is too windy and foggy for an airport. Therefore, the main option now is to extend Leknes, considering that Svolvær airport has no room for extension. There are plans to build a tunnel along the road E10 which would reduce the road distance from Svolvær to Gimsøy and Leknes by and 6 minutes, probably built after 2030.E10 Fiskebøl–Å (KVU)
/ref> There is since 2023 an ongoing project to reduce the road travel time to Evenes by 30 minutes to well below 2 hours, finished 2028.E10/rv. 85 Tjeldsund–Gullesfjordbotn–Langvassbukt
/ref>

References

Airports in Nordland Airports in the Arctic Avinor airports Vågan 1972 establishments in Norway Airports established in 1972 {{Nordland-geo-stub