Vestfold is a county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the largest city is Sandefjord. With the exception of the city-county of Oslo, Vestfold is the smallest county in Norway by area. Vestfold was until 2019 the only county in which all municipalities had declared Bokmål to be their sole official written form of the Norwegian language.
Sandefjord is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sandefjord. Other population centres in Sandefjord include Andebu, Fevang, Fokserød, Fossnes, Freberg, Hafallen, Helgerød, Himberg, Høyjord, Kodal, Lahelle, Melsomvik, Råstad, Solløkka, Stokke, Storevar, Strand, and Unneberg
Sandefjord Airport, Torp is a minor international airport located 4 nautical miles northeast of Sandefjord and 110 kilometers (68 mi) south of Oslo in Norway. The airport features a 2,989-meter (9,806 ft) runway aligned 18/36. Torp partially serves as a regional airport for Vestfold and in part as a low-cost airport for Eastern Norway and the capital, Oslo. Widerøe have a base at Torp, serving both domestic and shorter International flights. It also sees scheduled flights by airBaltic, Ryanair, Wizz Air, and Norwegian Air Shuttle. As of 2021, it is the second-largest airport in eastern Norway in terms of flights after Rygge shut down in 2016.
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 44 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, with three more on order, and 3 Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, serves over 40 domestic and international destinations. Widerøe has a turnover of 3.5 billion kr; carries 2.8 million annual passengers; has 3,500 employees and performs 450 take-offs and landings each day. Public service obligation services to regional airports make up slightly less than half of Widerøe's operations. The remaining services are to primary airports in Northern Norway, and services from Sandefjord Airport, Torp and Bergen Airport, Flesland to other primary airports, and some international services from Oslo/Gardermoen, Sandefjord/Torp, Kristiansand/Kjevik, Stavanger/Sola, Bergen/Flesland and Trondheim/Værnes.
Stavanger Airport, commonly just known as Sola, is an international airport located in Rogaland county, Norway. The airport is located 6 NM southwest of the centre of the city of Stavanger inside the neighboring municipality of Sola and it serves the Stavanger, Sola, Sandnes area as well as serves as a regional hub for southwest Norway. It is Norway's third-busiest airport, with both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter traffic for the offshore North Sea oil installations. In addition, the Royal Norwegian Air Force operates Westland Sea King search and rescue helicopters from Sola Air Station.
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 in Norway, with 6,306,623 passenger operations in 2018. Flesland is operated by the state-owned Avinor. Until 1999, Flesland Air Station of the Norwegian Air Force was co-located at the airport.
Coast Air AS was a regional airline based at Haugesund Airport, Karmøy in Norway. It was Norway's fourth largest airline and operated domestic services within Norway, in addition to international services. Routes were concentrated along the West Coast, as well as some public service obligation contracts in Southern Norway. The company had a fleet of de Havilland Canada Twin Otter aircraft, later replaced with Jetstream 31s and ATR 42s.
Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik is an international airport serving Kristiansand Municipality in Agder county, Norway. The airport is located in the district of Tveit in the Oddernes borough, about 16 kilometers (9.9 mi) by road and 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) by air from the center of town of Kristiansand. Operated by the state-owned Avinor, it is the sole airport in Southern Norway with scheduled flights. It has a 2,035-meter (6,677 ft) runway aligned 03/21 and served 1,061,130 passengers in 2018. Scheduled flights are provided by Scandinavian Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Widerøe, KLM Cityhopper and Wizz Air. The Royal Norwegian Air Force has a training center at the airport.
The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter is a modified version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft built in Canada by Canadair under licence. It was primarily used as a ground attack aircraft, despite being designed as an interceptor. It served with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and later the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) until it was replaced by the McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet.
Alta Airport is an international airport in the city of Alta in Alta Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The airport is located at Elvebakken, 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) east of the city center. It has a single, 2,253-meter (7,392 ft) runway numbered 11/29, which lies on the southern shore of the Altafjord. Alta Airport is owned and operated by the state-owned Avinor, and served 368,393 passengers in 2014, making it the busiest airport in Finnmark.
Skien Airport, Geiteryggen is a regional airport located at Geiteryggen, 5.5 kilometers (3.4 mi) southwest of the city center of Skien, Norway. Owned by Skien Municipality, it was last served by Widerøe with daily flights to Bergen. The runway is 1,416-by-30-meter and numbered 01–19. The airport had 33,080 passengers in 2014 and has Grenland and the southern part of Telemark as its catchment area.
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 ten Westland Sea King helicopters based at six airbases along the coast. Headquartered at Sola Air Station, the squadron has detachments at Rygge, Florø, Ørland, Bodø and Banak. The unit's primary duty is search and rescue (SAR), with secondary duties consisting of air ambulance and disaster relief.
Båtsfjord Airport is a regional airport serving Båtsfjord in Finnmark, Norway. It consists of a 1,000 by 30 meters runway and served 14,485 passengers in 2016. A further 14,663 landed and started at the airport without leaving the aircraft. Scheduled services are provided by Widerøe using the Dash 8 to Kirkenes, Hammerfest and other communities in Finnmark. The airport is owned and operated by the state-owned Avinor.
Vildanden AS was a virtual, regional airline based at Skien Airport, Geiteryggen in Norway, where it was the only airline. With operations starting in 2005, it flew to Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger using a Jetstream 32 and an ATR 42, which is wet leased from Danish Air Transport (DAT) and Helitrans. Previously, the airline has also served Stockholm and Molde, and has also operated Saab 340 aircraft, operated by Coast Air, Air Aurora and Avitrans. The airline had been in conflict with Coast Air about terminating the wet lease agreement. The company has had to be bailed out several times, including by the municipality, until it managed to make its first profit in 2009. It ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy in January 2011.
Norsk Air was a Norwegian airline based at Sandefjord Airport, Torp. At its height from the mid-1980s and onwards it operated scheduled flights to Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Copenhagen, and for shorter periods also other Norwegian and international destinations. The airline had 156 employees and 150,000 annual passengers in 1989. The company was established as a sole proprietorship by Øyvind Skaunfelt as Vestfoldfly in 1961, after purchasing Thor Solberg's aviation school at Tønsberg Airport, Jarlsberg. In addition to an aviation college, the company operated various charter services using mostly Cessna aircraft. The company split into a flying school and an airline in 1972, with the latter taking the name Norsk Flytjeneste. Three 50-passenger Douglas DC-6 were subsequently bought and were among other places flown with aid charters to Bangladesh. Both the DC-6 and later charter flights with business jets proved unprofitable and were quickly terminated.
Nordic Air A/S was a Norwegian cargo airline based at Sandefjord Airport, Torp. It operated from 1970 to 1973 with a Douglas DC-4, later replaced with two Lockheed L-188 Electra. The airline was not allowed to fly scheduled routes, and relied on charter flights. The most common transport was fish, from Northern Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. 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.
Widerøe's Flyveselskap ASA, is a regional airline based in Bodø Norway, established by
