Florø Airport
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Florø Airport (, ) is a
regional airport A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport. These airports often have short r ...
serving the town of
Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn which is in Vestland county, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjord ...
in
Kinn Municipality Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality of ...
, in the west central part of
Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...
county,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. It is situated on the southern shore of the island of Florelandet, adjacent to the town center. Owned and operated by the state-owned
Avinor Avinor AS is a state-owned aksjeselskap, 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 wa ...
, it features a runway aligned 07/25. The airport had 201,686 passengers in 2014, making it the busiest regional airport in the country. The
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
is served by
Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 48 aircraft includes 45 De Havilland Dash 8 turboprops as well as 3 Embraer 1 ...
with flights to
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
and
Danish Air Transport DAT Aktieselskab, A/S, formerly named ''Danish Air Transport'', is a Denmark, Danish airline headquartered in Vamdrup, Kolding Municipality, operating scheduled and chartered passenger flights mainly from airports in Denmark, Norway, Italy and Ge ...
to
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
.
Bristow Helicopters Bristow Helicopters Limited is a British civil helicopter operator originally based at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland, which is currently a part of the U.S.-based Bristow Group () which in turn has its corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas, U.S ...
flies to the
North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...
platforms at Snorre, Visund,
Gjøa ''Gjøa'' is a museum ship and was the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. With a crew of six, Roald Amundsen traversed the passage in a three-year journey, finishing in 1906. History Construction The square-sterned sloop o ...
and Knarr. CHC Helikopter Service operates an AS332 Super Puma
search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
helicopter out of Florø on behalf of The
Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) () is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximately 2,430 employees (officers, enlisted ...
's
330 Squadron No. 330 Squadron RNoAF () is a helicopter unit of the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) and is Norway's military search and rescue service. The squadron operates sixteen AugustaWestland AW101 helicopters based at six airbases along the coast. ...
. Construction of an airport first commenced in 1956, but was terminated. Florø Airport opened as part of a network of four regional airports on 1 July 1971. Widerøe served it with
de Havilland Canada Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking Ai ...
s, later also
de Havilland Canada Dash 7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. Variants were built with 50–54 seats. It first flew in 1975 and remained in producti ...
s. The
heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...
opened in 1994 and the runway was extended from the original in 2000. That year Coast Air took over the routes from Widerøe.
Danish Air Transport DAT Aktieselskab, A/S, formerly named ''Danish Air Transport'', is a Denmark, Danish airline headquartered in Vamdrup, Kolding Municipality, operating scheduled and chartered passenger flights mainly from airports in Denmark, Norway, Italy and Ge ...
resumed them in 2003 until Widerøe again won back the operations in 2012. The search and rescue base opened in 2009. There are proposals to extend the runway further.


History

Norwegian Air Lines Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S (literally "The Norwegian Aviation Company") or DNL, trading internationally as Norwegian Air Lines, was an airline and flag carrier of Norway. Founded in 1927, it operated domestic and international routes from 19 ...
commenced services along the West Coast of the Norway in 1935. These would call at Florø on demand, landing at the docks at Florevika. The
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
routes required a boat to ferry out to the aircraft to embark and disembark passengers. From 1951 to 1959
Florø Radio Florø Radio is a coast radio station from the town of Florø in the municipality of Kinn, Vestland, Norway. Operated by Telenor Maritim Radio, it has the responsibility for North Sea and Norwegian Sea coast between Sognefjord and Rørvik Rà ...
operated an aeradio at
Rognaldsvåg Rognaldsvåg is a fishing village in the municipality of Kinn in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the western end of the island of Reksta, less than east of the island of Kinn and about south of the island of Skorpa. The town of Flor ...
to assist air navigation along the coast. Large-scale construction of airports in Norway started in the 1950s, largely funded by the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...
(NATO).
Bergen Airport, Flesland Bergen Airport (; ), alternatively Bergen Flesland Airport or simply Flesland Airport, is an international airport located at Flesland in the city and municipality of Bergen, Vestland, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the second-busiest airport i ...
opened in 1955, followed by
Ålesund Airport, Vigra Ålesund Airport (, ), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the Vigra (island), island of Vigra in Giske Municipali ...
in 1958. The first plans for an airport in
Sunnfjord Sunnfjord ( - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the southernmost parts of Brem ...
were launched by Engineer Arne Bengtsen, who proposed building an airfield in Florø and having West Norway Airlines operate to it using the
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer The Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer was a British STOL transport aircraft built by Scottish Aviation Limited at Prestwick Airport, Scotland, during the 1950s. It was designed for both civil and military operators. It was conceived as a twin-en ...
. This was backed by the municipalities of
Kinn Kinn is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020. It is in the traditional districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord. The municipality is the only non-contiguous municipality in Norway since the municipality ...
and
Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn which is in Vestland county, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjord ...
, who considered the possibilities of an runway to be located at Havreneset. It would be designed as a combined land and water aerodrome, where seaplanes would feed to other locations in
Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...
. These would land at Gunhildvågen. The proposal was approved by a government commission in 1956. Construction of a runway commenced in late 1956, with plans for later extension to . However, it soon became evident that the Twin Pioneer would not receive operating permit for winter operations. Construction of the airport was therefore scrapped. Part of the runway was used to build a street, Industrivegen. A government commission, led by
Erik Himle Erik Himle (10 April 1924 – 30 July 2008) was a Norwegian civil servant and politician for the Labour Party. Himle graduated with the cand.oecon. degree in 1948, and from the NATO Defence College in 1957. He was never elected as a politicia ...
and later
Preben Munthe Preben Hempel Munthe (15 October 1922 – 3 January 2013) was a Norwegian economist. He was born in Aker, the son of librarian Wilhelm Munthe (1883–1965) and his wife Jenny Hempel (1882–1975). Gerhard Munthe was his elder brother. The young ...
, was appointed in 1962 to consider additional airports in Norway. The
Sud Aviation Caravelle The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle is a French jet airliner produced by Sud Aviation. It was developed by SNCASE in the early 1950s, and made its maiden flight on May 27, 1955. It included some de Havilland designs and components developed for t ...
was about to be phased into use on the main domestic routes and the committee recommended in 1964 that nine new airports be built which could serve jetliners,Svanberg: 662–663 including an airport in Florø. Widerøe launched an alternative proposal and suggested that a network of smaller airports be built instead, which could be served using
short take-off and landing A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...
aircraft, which were being developed at the time. Smaller airports could be built and operated at lower cost than larger airports, but both airports and airlines would need subsidies to operate.
Håkon Kyllingmark Håkon Olai Kyllingmark (19 January 1915 – 12 August 2003) was a Norwegian military officer and businessman. He served as a politician for the Conservative Party of Norway, Conservative Party and was elected to the Norwegian Parliament. Biograp ...
was appointed Minister of Transport and Communications in 1965 and was a proponent of the
STOLport A STOLport or STOLPORT was an airport designed with STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) operations in mind, usually for an aircraft class of a certain weight and size. The term "STOLport" did not appear to be in common usage as of 2008, although wa ...
proposal. The political rationale was that, despite that the total operating costs would rise, it would provide better services to rural areas and thus keep up their population. The regional airports only received a simple terminal and an runway. The first such airports were opened in
Helgeland Helgeland is the most southerly Districts of Norway, district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet moun ...
in 1968. This was deeded sufficiently successful that
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
approved the second stage in 1969, consisting of four airports in Northwestern Norway. In addition to Florø, these consisted of
Førde Airport, Øyrane Førde Airport, Øyrane (; ) was a regional airport located at Øyrane in Førde, Norway. The municipal airport first opened as a water aerodrome, receiving a runway in 1970. Scheduled services started the following year, with Widerøe providing ...
;
Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen Sogndal Airport (; ) is a regional airport serving Sogndal Municipality and the surrounding area in Vestland, Norway. It is situated at Haukåsen, from Kaupanger and from Sogndalsfjøra. It serves the whole Sogn district. The airport consists of ...
; and Ørsta–Volda Airport, Hovden. Florø Airport received a runway measuring and an apron measuring . All four airports opened on 1 July 1971. The government issued the task of operating the routes to Widerøe, who initially served it with its 19-seat
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking ...
s. Services commenced to
Bergen Airport, Flesland Bergen Airport (; ), alternatively Bergen Flesland Airport or simply Flesland Airport, is an international airport located at Flesland in the city and municipality of Bergen, Vestland, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the second-busiest airport i ...
and
Ålesund Airport, Vigra Ålesund Airport (, ), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the Vigra (island), island of Vigra in Giske Municipali ...
, as well as between the STOLports. Widerøe built its main base for Southern Norway at Florø Airport, consisting of a hangar and staffed with six mechanics. Widerøe introduced the
de Havilland Canada Dash 7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. Variants were built with 50–54 seats. It first flew in 1975 and remained in producti ...
on the route from Florø and Sogndal to
Oslo Airport, Fornebu Oslo Airport, 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 redeveloped. The airport was located at ...
in September 1983. Widerøe replaced its Twin Otters and Dash 7s with the
de Havilland Canada 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 bought by Boeing in 1986, then by Bombardier in 1992, then by Longv ...
in the early 1990s. With the opening of the
Snorre Oil Field Snorre is an oil and gas field in the Tampen area in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea. The sea depth in the area is . Snorre has been operational since August 1992. It was the first field developed by Saga Petroleum. A ''Plateosaurus'' ...
in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
, Florø Airport was selected as the heliport to fly out to the platforms.
Saga Petroleum Saga Petroleum ASA was a Norwegian upstream petroleum company established in 1972 that was acquired by Norsk Hydro in 1999. In October 2007 it was made part of Statoil. The company was the only fully private oil company in Norway. It had part ...
selected Helikopter Service as their operator, with the helibase opening in 1994. The increased traffic led to the extension of the runway to in 2000. From 1997 the flights were made subject to public service obligations. Widerøe won the first three-year contract. In the second contest in September 1999, Coast Air won the Florø contract. It introduced their two 46-seat ATR 42–300 aircraft. This caused Widerøe to have to move their base from Florø to
Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Oslo Airport () , alternatively referred to as Oslo Gardermoen Airport or simply Gardermoen, is an international airport serving Oslo, the capital and most populous city of Norway. The airport is the second largest in Scandinavia and the Nord ...
. The company received NOK 51 million annually, from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2003. The bid was about NOK 100 million lower than from Widerøe. All stopovers were thereby dropped. Coast Air flew four or five daily trips to both Bergen and Oslo. The demand for air travel dropped in 2001, and only 85,000 passengers flew with Coast Air to Florø, instead of the estimated 100,000, making the entire operation a loss for the company. With the next round of PSO contracts, valid from 1 April 2003 through 31 March 2006, Coast Air lost the Florø contract to
Danish Air Transport DAT Aktieselskab, A/S, formerly named ''Danish Air Transport'', is a Denmark, Danish airline headquartered in Vamdrup, Kolding Municipality, operating scheduled and chartered passenger flights mainly from airports in Denmark, Norway, Italy and Ge ...
. The airline kept the contract for nine years.
Airport security Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats. Aviation security is a combination of measures and hum ...
was introduced on 1 January 2005. Following a competition with Ålesund to receive a new search and rescue base, the government selected Florø as the sixth detachment of the Royal Norwegian Air Force's 330 Squadron. The base became operational in September 2009 after investments of 70 million
Norwegian krone The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...
. The following year
GDF Suez Engie SA (stylised in all caps as ENGIE) is a French multinational electric utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie. Its activities cover electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy ...
started operations on its Gjøa Oil Field and CHC Helikopter Service expanded its base. Widerøe was able to reclaim the Florø contract in the 2012 tender, after they bid to operate the route without subsidies. Widerøe thereafter moved its technical base back to Florø. Danish Air Transport commenced a route from Florø to
Stavanger Airport, Sola Stavanger Airport (; ), commonly known simply 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 municipality of Sola an ...
in 2012, but closed it down within months. It was followed up by
Airwing Airwing AS was a Norway, Norwegian regional airline based at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. It operated a fleet of Learjet 45s and Beechcraft Super King Airs, which it used for a mix of scheduled, air taxi and air ambulance services. Established in 20 ...
, which commenced flights the following year, first to Stavanger and subsequently to
Notodden Airport, Tuven Notodden Airport (; ) is a municipal regional airport at Heddal in Notodden, a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The airport is mostly used for general aviation, and has extensive sailplane activity. In 2011, the airport had 5,078 aircra ...
.


Facilities

Florø Airport is situated on a southern peninsula of the Florelandet, the island on which Florø is situated. The asphalt runway has physical dimensions and is aligned 07/25. It has a takeoff run available (TORA) and a landing distance available (LDA) of . The airport is equipped with category 4 fire and rescue service. The airport is situated five minutes drive from the town center. There is an hourly bus service operated by Firda Billag. Paid parking, taxis and car rental are available at the airport.


Airlines and destinations

Scheduled services out of Florø are provided by Widerøe using the de Havilland Canada Dash 8 and Danish Air Transport using ATR42s. These were operated as public service obligations with the Ministry of Transport and Communications until April 2016. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the route to Oslo became reinvorporated in the PSO network again from October 2021.
Bristow Helicopters Bristow Helicopters Limited is a British civil helicopter operator originally based at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland, which is currently a part of the U.S.-based Bristow Group () which in turn has its corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas, U.S ...
operates helicopter flights to several oil platforms in the North Sea. Florø Airport served 200,356 passengers, 11,654 aircraft movements and handled 3 tonnes of cargo in 2014. Florø Airport is also the base of a detachment of the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s 330 Squadron. The detachment carried out 149 search and rescue missions lasting 476 hours in 2013.


Statistics


Future

Avinor is considering steps to expand the airport. It still has the inaugural terminal from 1971, which is in need of expansion. Additional apron space is also needed, as is car parking. Further extension of the runway is also being considered, either to . Either way the extension would be westwards. The sounds of Ausa and Furesundet would have to be filled and the two islands as well as Furøya leveled. Avinor has estimated the costs at about 200 million kroner. Avinor has started a process to look at the airport structure in Sogn og Fjordane. Early plans have looked at closing down
Førde Airport, Bringeland Førde is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It was located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative center was t ...
, and possibly also
Sandane Airport, Anda Sandane Airport (; ) is a regional airport serving the village of Sandane in Vestland county, Norway. It perpendicularly straddles the Anda peninsula in Gloppen Municipality between the Nordfjorden (Vestland), Nordfjorden and Gloppefjorden. The ai ...
, while expanding the runway at Florø Airport to . This would allow for
jetliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly cla ...
s to operate from Florø to Oslo with significantly lower ticket prices and remove the need for subsidies. Previously, the Ministry of Transport and Communications has proposed closing Sandane Airport and splitting the traffic between Førde and Ørsta–Volda Airport, Hovden. The road distance from
Sandane Sandane is the administrative centre of the municipality of Gloppen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Gloppefjorden, along the European route E39 highway. Sandane is south of the village of Nordfjordeid and about wes ...
to Bringeland is ,


References


Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Floro Airport Airports in Vestland Avinor airports Royal Norwegian Air Force airfields Kinn Heliports in Norway 1971 establishments in Norway Airports established in 1971