Widerøe is the third-largest airline of Norway and the largest regional airline in the Nordic countries. They operate a fleet of 41 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft to forty-three domestic and nine international destinations. Widerøe generates 40 percent of their traffic from public service obligations (PSO) with the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The company had a revenue of 2,500 million Norwegian krone, flew 380 daily flights and served two million passengers in 2012. The Bodø-based company has 1,300 employees.
Widerøe was founded in 1934. From the 1940s Widerøe started flying various seaplane routes for Norwegian Air Lines and later Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). These routes were commonly flown using Noorduyn Norseman and de Havilland Canada Otter aircraft.Arnesen: 48–59 From the mid-1960s a network of regional airports was built and Widerøe received the concession to operate the routes. The first four airports opened in Helgeland in 1968, followed by four in Sogn og Fjordane and Sunnmøre in 1971, three in Lofoten and Vesterålen in 1972, five in northern Troms and Finnmark in 1974 and another three by 1977. Originally these were served with the de Havilland Canada Twin Otter, supplemented with the de Havilland Canada Dash 7 from 1981.
Four additional regional airport opened in 1986 and 1987. The following three years Widerøe took over services at four airports from the failing Norving. Norsk Air was bought in 1989, making Sandefjord Airport, Torp a major base.Tjomsland: 128–130 The entire fleet was replaced with the de Havilland Canada Dash 8 between 1993 and 1995. From 1997 all subsidized routes became subject to PSOs, although Widerøe has been able to win most tenders. Except out of Torp, international scheduled flights commenced in 1994 and since Widerøe has provided a small range of international destinations as part of their network. Widerøe took over SAS Commuter's operations in Northern Norway in 2002 and SAS' operations in Western Norway in 2010.
Destinations
*Non-continuous serviceTerminated serviceFuture service
+ List of Widerøe destinations City Country Airport Begin End Ref(s) Aberdeen United Kingdom Aberdeen Airport 1999 Norway Ålesund Airport, Vigra 1971 Alta Norway Alta Airport 1974 Arnesen: 124–130 AndenesNorway Andøya Air Station Destinations wideroe.no BergenNorway Bergen Airport, Flesland 1971 Berlin Germany Berlin Tempelhof Airport 1997 2001 BillundDenmark Billund Airport 2018 Fly til Billund og Legoland wideroe.no Norway Båtsfjord Airport 1990 Norway Båtsfjord Airport BodøNorway Bodø Airport 1968 Arnesen: 99–109 BrønnøysundNorway Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy 1968 BerlevågNorway Berlevåg Airport 1974 CopenhagenDenmark Copenhagen Airport 1989 Tjomsland: 102–103 Edinburgh United Kingdom Edinburgh Airport 2006 2011 Fagernes Norway Fagernes Airport, Leirin 1999 2000 FlorøNorway Florø Airport 1971* Norway Førde Airport, Bringeland 1986 Norway Førde Airport, Øyrane 1971 1986 Glasgow United Kingdom Glasgow Airport 1997 1999 GothenburgSweden Göteborg Landvetter Airport 1996 Hemavan Sweden Hemavan Airport 1995 1995 Hamburg Germany Hamburg Airport 2018 HammerfestNorway Hammerfest Airport 1974 HaugesundNorway Haugesund Airport, Karmøy 2010* HonningsvågNorway Honningsvåg Airport, Valan 1977 Harstad/NarvikNorway Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes 1975* Svendsen: 397 HasvikNorway Hasvik Airport 1990 KirkenesNorway Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen 1974 KristiansandNorway Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik 1991* KristiansundNorway Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget 1971* LakselvNorway Lakselv Airport, Banak 1974 LeknesNorway Leknes Airport 1972 Arnesen: 117–124 Sumburgh United Kingdom Sumburgh Airport 1995* 2005 Liverpool United Kingdom Liverpool John Lennon Airport 2018 London United Kingdom Heathrow Airport 2021 London United Kingdom London Southend Airport 2020 2021 London United Kingdom London Stansted Airport 1989* New direct services Widerøe MehamnNorway Mehamn Airport 1974 Mo i RanaNorway Mo i Rana Airport, Røssvoll 1968 MosjøenNorway Mosjøen Airport, Kjærstad 1987 MoldeNorway Molde Airport, Årø 1972* Munich Germany Munich Airport 2018 Murmansk Russia Murmansk Airport 1994 2000 NamsosNorway Namsos Airport 1968 Newcastle upon TyneUnited Kingdom Newcastle International Airport 2006 Norway Ørland Airport 1971 1987 Hovd: 388–389 Norway Ørsta–Volda Airport, Hovden 1971 Oslo Norway Oslo Airport, Fornebu 1974 1998 Bredal: 42 OsloNorway Oslo Airport, Gardermoen 1998 Denmark Bornholm Airport 2007 2010 Norway Røros Airport 2001* 2020 Norway Rørvik Airport, Ryum 1988 Norway Røst Airport 1986* SandaneNorway Sandane Airport, Anda 1975 SandefjordNorway Sandefjord Airport, Torp 1989 SandnessjøenNorway Sandnessjøen Airport, Stokka 1968 Skien Norway Skien Airport, Geiteryggen 1989* 2015 Tjomsland: 150–159 SogndalNorway Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen 1971 Norway Sørkjosen Airport 1974 StavangerNorway Stavanger Airport, Sola 1989 Tjomsland: 102–105 Stockholm Sweden Stockholm-Arlanda Airport 1999 2006 StockholmSweden Stockholm-Bromma Airport 2020 StokmarknesNorway Stokmarknes Airport, Skagen 1972 SvolværNorway Svolvær Airport, Helle 1972 TromsøNorway Tromsø Airport, Langnes 1974 TrondheimNorway Trondheim Airport, Værnes 1968 Umeå Sweden Umeå Airport 1995 1995 Norway Værøy Airport 1986 1990 VadsøNorway Vadsø Airport 1974 VagarFaroe IslandsVagar Airport2021 VardøNorway Vardø Airport, Svartnes 1990 Visby Sweden Visby Airport 2004 ?
References
Bibliography