Ålesund Airport, Vigra
Ålesund Airport Ålesund lufthamn | |||||||||||
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AMSL 21 m / 70 ft | | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 62°33′45″N 006°07′11″E / 62.56250°N 6.11972°E | ||||||||||
Website | avinor.no | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Statistics (2013) | |||||||||||
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Ålesund Airport (
The first airport serving Ålesund was
Between 1995 and 1998 the 330 Squadron had a detachment at Vigra for its Westland Sea King for search and rescue. Color Air and SAS started flying to Ålesund in 1998. After suffering heavy losses, SAS bought Braathens and Color Air closed down. Norwegian Air Shuttle thereafter entered, first in 2004 and then in 2008. The terminal was expanded in 2007 and the airport has seen an expansion in international destinations.
History
Proposals
Plans for scheduled flights to Ålesund were first articulated in 1919 by a government commission as part of a coastal seaplane route from Stavanger to Trondheim. The first landing in Ålesund took place on 27 May 1920. Thereafter flights were sporadic.[3] The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service set up a base at Skutvika near the town center in November 1929, which they used to search for herring. They moved the base the following year, establishing Ålesund Airport, Sørneset.[4] Later used both for civilian flights, scheduled services and Luftwaffe operations,[5] the Sørneset water aerodrome remained in use until 1979.[6]
Work on a land airport around Ålesund started with a public speech held by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen in 1933. In further speeches, he proposed Vigra or the Moa area of Spjelkavik as suitable locations. The former was preferred by the government, who included it in its 1935 plan for primary airports.[5] Following the Nazi invasion of Norway during World War II, the Luftwaffe also considered Moa as a suitable location for the region, but instead opted to build an airport on Gossa,[7] which was not completed by the end war.[5]
After the war ended,
Construction
The Civil Airport Administration (CAA) issued NOK 3.2 million for the upgrade of Gossa in 1955. However,
Within a short period the CAA determined that the Twin Pioneer would not be approved and that, following Braathens SAFE Flight 253 that Heron's would not be allowed to fly during winter. The municipality therefore applied in February 1957 that Vigra be given status as a primary airport. Parliament approved this and granted funding for air traffic control and operations.[8] Construction involved building a 1,600-by-40-meter (5,250 by 130 ft) runway and 350 meters (1,150 ft) to taxiway. These were built by Veibygg, Fredrikstad Granittkompani and Korsbrekke og Lorck. The terminal was building measured 820 square meters (8,800 sq ft), of which 300 square meters (3,200 sq ft) was a garage, and was built by Bjarne Haugseth. Ålesund Municipality was the owner and developer.[9] Three radio beacons were built.[10]
Ålesund was to be connected both to
Early operation
The first aircraft to land was a military de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, on 19 May 1958 with supplies for the navigational aids. Braathens landed a Heron on 2 June.[10] The official opening took place on 7 June with 3,000 spectators.[12] Flights were at first flown using the Douglas DC-4.[13] Initially the coastal service and the Oslo service were flown one time per day.[14]
Vigra did not originally have more to a terminal than a waiting hall.
Ownership of the airport passed to the CAA and the state from September 1959. This coincided with a new taxiway from the runway and the opening of the instrument landing system (ILS).[17] This could only be used on runway 25. The Vigra Transmitter was situated in the way for the other direction. The ILS was installed without an inner marker.[18] The tarmac was extended in 1960 to make way for a general aviation section near the control tower.[19] Due to sinking of the runway it had to be re-asphalted the following year.[20]
Braathens introduced their new Fokker F27 Friendship from 9 January 1959. From the summer program it flew two daily flights to Oslo and from 1961 twice per day on the coastal route.[21] VHF omnidirectional range and distance measuring equipment navigational system were installed in 1963.[18] Ålesund Airport experienced a massive increase in traffic during the 1960s. A third daily departure to Oslo was introduced in August 1963 and on the coastal route from 2 May 1964. The latter was extended to Bodø Airport and Tromsø Airport from 1 April 1967, and upgraded to a fourth daily service. Some Oslo services were provided using a Douglas DC-6. A year later the coastal route increased to five daily trips, which was matched by the Oslo route in 1969.[22] That year also saws the installation of a visual approach slope indicator[23] and the introduction of the Fokker F28 Fellowship in March.[22]
MRF introduced a hovercraft service from Ørsta via Hareid to Ålesund and Vigra, then onwards to Molde and Åndalsnes. The 18-passenger craft sank only days after the service was inaugurated in April 1965. Two more hovercraft were delivered and served the route. Travel times was 50 minutes to Molde, 80 minutes to Åndalsnes, 25 minutes to Hareid and 50 minutes to Ørsta. However, by the time of the fall storms the authorities withdrew the operating certificate due to safety concerns.[24]
In the course of two years the number of airports in Møre og Romsdal increased from one to four, having a dramatical effect on patronage at Vigra.
A new 728-square-meter (7,840 sq ft) works building opened in 1972, including a new fire station, command center and workshop.[29] The Friendship was pulled out of Vigra from 1976, by which time Braathens was back up to fifteen daily services. The Fellowships had five departures in each direction on the coastal service and the 737s had taken over all the Oslo services.[25] To handle the increased traffic the terminal was slightly expanded with a temporary structure, allowing the airport to handle two simultaneous aircraft.[30]
New terminal and longer runway
The first
Mørefly, an Ålesund-based air ambulance and helicopter operator, relocated its base from Sørneset to Vigra in 1979. This followed their building of a 750-square-meter (8,100 sq ft) hangar and office building at the airport.[6] Braathens extended its city offices in 1979 and the following year a new wing was added to the terminal for international arrivals.[25] Baggage could from then be picked up either at the airport or in the city center.[32]
Meanwhile, the traffic increased made it necessary for the airport to receive a new major upgrade.[25] The works building was expanded in 1982, including more garages and office space.[33] A new 953-square-meter (10,260 sq ft) control tower was taken into use in November 1984.[34] A new 4,816-square-meter (51,840 sq ft) terminal was also built for NOK 53 million. It included an upper story with a restaurant.[32]
MRF operated a fast ferry service from Hareid to Vigra from 12 September 1983.[16] The parking was expanded from 60 to 254 places, and from 1986 parking became paid. A private competitor, Vigra Parkering, offered parking from 1985 to 1991, after which the CAA bought the lot.[35] The new terminal also featured car rental from four companies.[36] Although the old terminal was proposed used as an offshore helicopter terminal, it caught fire in 1986 and was demolished the following year.[32] Mørefly introduced the first international scheduled service, to Aberdeen Airport in the United Kingdom, from 14 April 1986.[37] In conjunction with this the airport introduced airport security for select passengers.[38] The Aberdeen route was terminated on 28 March 1987.[39]
Norwegian Air Ambulance was established on 1 January 1988. Vigra was selected as the base both for a Beechcraft Super King Air fixed-wing air ambulance and an Aérospatiale SA365N Dauphin 2 rotorcraft.[40] From 1 November 1988 to 31 January 1989 Mørefly operated an Aérospatiale SA332 Super Puma search and rescue helicopter from Vigra, before this was relocated.[41] The Dauphin was relocated to Ålesund Heliport, Hospital when it opened in 1993. Mørefly merged with Lufttransport in 1995.[34]
The Vigra Fixed Link opened between 1987 and 1989. It consists of the 3,520-meter (11,550 ft) long Ellingsøy Tunnel between Ålesund and Ellingsøya, the 4,222-meter (13,852 ft) long Valderøy Tunnel connecting the islands of Ellingsøya and Valderøya, and others. This allowed travelers from Ålesund to reach the airport without a ferry. They remained a toll road until 25 October 2009.[42] RVR and the airport coach service was taken over by Ålesund Bilruter from 1 January 1988.[15]
A
Braathens introduced its Boeing 737-500 at Ålesund in 1990, replacing its older -200s by 1995.[47] Widerøe withdrew from Ålesund in 1993, when the Twin Otters were retired.[48] The same year Braathens subcontracted some Ålesund routes to their regional affiliate, Norwegian Air Shuttle, who operated the Fokker 50.[49]
The Super Puma search and rescue service spurred public demands for a rescue helicopter to be based at Vigra. From 11 September 1995 the
Deregulation
The Norwegian airline market was deregulated from 1 April 1994. This initially had little effect on Vigra, as there were insufficient
Fornebu was replaced by
SAS bought Braathens in May 2001, from 2002 the two SAS Group airlines coordinated their flights to Ålesund. Their ground services were taken over by SAS Ground Handling.[61] Norwegian Air Shuttle shifted its operations in 2002 from a regional carrier to a low-cost airline. It took up competition with the SAS Group and launched an Oslo route on 23 August 2003 using the Boeing 737-300, using Røros Flyservice as their ground handler. These were most ex-Braathens employees. Norwegian initially remained at Ålesund only until 10 October 2004.[50] Braathens and SAS merged in 2004 to create SAS Braathens, which served Ålesund until 1 June 2007, when it again became part of Scandinavian Airlines.[62]
Full security check of all passengers took effect on 1 January 2004.
SAS Braathens commenced a bi-weekly service to
Norwegian returned to Vigra on 10 September 2008, when it reintroduced its Oslo service.
Facilities
The airport is situated on the island of Vigra on Giske, Norway.
The asphalt runway measures 2,314 by 45 meters (7,592 by 148 ft) and is aligned 06/24 (roughly northeast to southwest). Runway 06 has a declared take-off run available (TORA) of 2,164 meters (7,100 ft) and a landing distance available (LDA) of 2,014 meters (6,608 ft). The TORA and LDA of runway 24 are 2,314 and 2,083 meters (7,592 and 6,834 ft), respectively. Vigra lacks a parallel taxiway. The airport has a reference altitude of 21 meters (69 ft)
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Ålesund Airport:
Airlines | Destinations |
---|---|
Braathens International Airways | Seasonal charter: Palma de Mallorca (begins 17 May 2024)[85] |
Amsterdam
| |
Norwegian Air Shuttle[86] | Alicante, Oslo |
Scandinavian Airlines | Oslo Seasonal: Bergen Seasonal charter: Chania,[87] Palma de Mallorca[87] |
Trondheim
| |
Wizz Air | Gdańsk |
Statistics
Ålesund Airport, Vigra served 1,055,098 passengers in 2013, of which 256,512 were international passengers. The airport saw 16,057 aircraft movements and handled 641 tonnes of cargo. Ålesund is the tenth-busiest airport in Norway, measured in passenger numbers.[2]
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Ground transport
Taxis are also available. [15]References
- ^ a b c d "AD 2 ENAL 2 - 1" (PDF). Aeronautical Information Publication Norway. Avinor. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Passenger statistics". Avinor. Archived from the original (XLSX) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- ^ Hjelle: 12
- ^ Hafsten & Arheim: 63
- ^ a b c d Hjelle: 13
- ^ a b Hjelle: 123
- ^ Flatmark: 118
- ^ a b c Hjelle: 14
- ^ Hjelle: 16
- ^ a b Hjelle: 17
- ^ Tjomsland & Wilsberg: 112
- ^ Hjelle: 18
- ^ a b Hjelle: 90
- ^ Hjelle: 89
- ^ a b c d e Hjelle: 191
- ^ a b Hjelle: 195
- ^ Hjelle: 19
- ^ a b Hjelle: 37
- ^ Hjelle: 20
- ^ Hjelle: 21
- ^ Hjelle: 91
- ^ a b Hjelle: 93
- ^ Hjelle: 38
- ^ Hjelle: 197
- ^ a b c d e f Hjelle: 94
- ^ Tjomsland & Wilsberg: 183
- ^ Gynnild, Olav (2009). "Flyplassenes og flytrafikkens historie". Kulturminner på norske lufthavner – Landsverneplan for Avinor (in Norwegian). Avinor. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ Tjomsland & Wilsberg: 184
- ^ Hjelle: 54
- ^ Hjelle: 23
- ^ a b Hjelle: 104
- ^ a b c d Hjelle: 24
- ^ Hjelle: 55
- ^ a b c Hjelle: 39
- ^ a b Hjelle: 185
- ^ a b Hjelle: 187–189
- ^ Hansen, Lars Ditlev (26 February 1987). "Mørefly vil omstille omstridt Aberdeenrute". Aftenposten. (in Norwegian). p. 40.
- ^ a b Hjelle: 181
- ^ Hjelle: 124
- ^ Bø, Trond (7 October 1992). "Tøff kamp om luftambulansekontraktene". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). p. 3.
- Ministry of Justice and the Police. 1997. p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.)
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help - ^ Herskedal, Kjell (24 October 2009). "Gratis å kjøre Ålesundtunnelene fra søndag" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency.
- ^ a b c Hjelle: 41
- ^ Hjelle: 25
- ^ Hjelle: 26
- ^ a b Hjelle: 179
- ^ a b Hjelle: 98
- ^ Hjelle: 103
- ^ Hjelle: 105
- ^ a b Hjelle: 113
- ^ Tjomsland & Wilsberg: 340
- ^ Valderhaug, Rune (20 January 1994). "Braathen vil ikke fly direkte Bergen Nord-Norge". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). p. 6.
- ^ Valestrand, Terje (19 January 1998). "Color Air: Ingen politisk sak". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). p. 6.
- ^ Lillesund, Geir (5 August 1998). "Mange ledige seter Oslo-Ålesund" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. p. 10.
- ^ Hjelle: 149
- ^ Hjelle: 109
- ^ a b Hjelle: 110
- ^ Sætre, Lars N. (12 March 1998). "Priskrig til glede for passasjerene: Kapasitetsboom på Gardermoen". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). p. 46.
- ^ "Flyselskapene tapte milliarder" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 1 February 2000.
- ^ "Color-avviklingen: - Som en bombe på de ansatte" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 27 September 1999.
- ^ Hjelle: 115
- ^ Hjelle: 114
- ^ a b Hjelle: 27
- ^ "Fra Ålesund til London". Dagens Næringsliv (in Norwegian). 13 March 2007. p. 39.
- ^ "Ruter som forsvinner". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). 25 October 2008. p. 14.
- ^ "Danskene vil til Ålesund". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 1 April 2008. p. 2.
- ^ "Riga neppe siste skudd på rutestammen". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 21 April 2008. p. 5.
- ^ "Gleder seg over ny rute til København". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 25 August 2009. p. 11.
- ^ "Større SAS-fly til København". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 25 August 2009. p. 11.
- ^ "Halv pris hjem til bestemor". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 18 July 2008. p. 1.
- ^ Mikaelsen, Knut-Erik (23 March 2011). "Tar av mot Midtøsten". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). p. 14.
- ^ a b "Norwegian kutter ruter". Adresseavisen (in Norwegian). 16 January 2013. p. 26.
- ^ "God start for Vigra–Alicante". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 14 February 2012. p. 8.
- ^ Hovik, Hilde (6 July 2012). "Ny rute fra Vigra til Las Palmas". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). p. 12.
- Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Archivedfrom the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ Horvik, Hilde; Stige, Per Ove (12 September 2013). "Krohn Air har bestemt å kansellere". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ "Satser på Sunnmøre". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 6 February 2013. p. 4.
- ^ "KLM adds new Norway route". Business Traveller. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ "Ny rute fra Vigra". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 25 August 2009. p. 11.
- ^ Meling, Eirik (27 November 2013). "Norwegian legger ned Ålesund–Bergen". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). p. 4.
- ^ "Widerøe tilbake på Vigra". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 21 January 2014. p. 2.
- ^ "Fleire fly til Vigra". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). 25 June 2014. p. 5.
- ^ Hjelle: 182
- ^ Hjelle: 177
- ^ "BRA NS24 CHARTER PROGRAM WITH APOLLO / SPIES / VING". 27 March 2024.
- ^ "Route map". norwegian.com.
- ^ a b "Ålesund Airport - Avinor". avinor.no. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
- ^ "Luftambulansebasen i Ålesund (Ambulansefly)" (in Norwegian). National Air Ambulance Service. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- Nettbuss. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
Bibliography
- Flatmark, Jan Olav (1988). Ålesund i hverdag og krig (in Norwegian). Ålesund: Nordvest Forlag. ISBN 82-90330-44-8.
- Hafstad, Bjørn; Arheim, Tom (2003). Marinens flygevåpen 1912–1944 (in Norwegian). TankeStreken. ISBN 82-993535-1-3.
- Hjelle, Bjørn Owe (2007). Ålesund lufthavn Vigra (in Norwegian). Valderøya. ISBN 978-82-92055-28-1.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Tjomsland, Audun; Wilsberg, Kjell (1995). Braathens SAFE 50 år: Mot alle odds. Oslo. ISBN 82-990400-1-9.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
External links
Media related to Ålesund Airport, Vigra at Wikimedia Commons