Lufttransport

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lufttransport
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
L5 LTR LUFTTRANSPORT
Founded1971
Parent company
Knut Axel Ugland Holding
HeadquartersTromsø
Key peopleStig Næsh (CEO)
Websitehttps://www.lufttransport.no lufttransport.no

Lufttransport is a

ship pilots and scheduled air transport in the Norwegian territory of Svalbard
.

The airline operates 10 helicopters and 14 fixed-wing aircraft and has headquarters in Tromsø. In 2005 the company had a revenue of 300 million

NOK
.

History

Early history

Lufttransport was established in 1971 with a base at

Svalbard Airport, Longyear in 1978. This included both flights for the mining company Store Norske and the research institute Kings Bay to Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben.[1]

The company's largest growth came in 1980, when took steps to start flying offshore services. Lufttransport was seen as a credible competitor to the then monopolist Helikopter Service. In 1982 both

Statfjord
. [3]

A fall in the oil price had resulted in a reduced willingness for the oil companies to pay higher prices to Lufttransport in order to entice competition The three-year contract with Statoil and Norsk Hydro was not extended, leaving the company in financial dire straits. Lufttransport therefore contacted Helikopter Service, resulting in a merger from 1 January 1987. Helikopter Service took over all offshore operations, while land-based services continued in the subsidiary Lufttransport.[3]

Merger with Mørefly

Helikopter Service bought another mid-sized helicopter and fixed-wing operator, the Ålesund-based Mørefly, in 1992. Also there the mother company took over all offshore operations and left only the land-based flights for Mørefly. Due to the similarities in profile, Mørefly and Lufttransport were merged in 1995. Tromsø was selected as the new company's head office and it also retained the name Lufttransport. However, it retained the air operator's certificate and organization number of Mørefly, which had been founded in 1955.[4]

At the time of the merger, Mørefly was one of the two large air ambulance operators in Norway, along with

Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen,[5] served by six Beechcraft King Air.[6]
A Dauphin 2 was flown out of
maritime surveillance over the North Sea.[7]

Helikopter Service sold Lufttransport in 2000 to

Bristow Group.[8]

The company returned to offshore flights in 2004, when it won a two-year contract to fly all services in the Norwegian sector for Teekay, later Teekay Petrojarl. The contract has been renewed numerous times.[9]

Lufttransport commenced scheduled passenger services on the route from

navigational aids were installed, allowing helicopters to operate during twice per day also during the dark period of the year. Lufttransport was the only bidder for the following contract, which lasts three years from 1 August 2011. The subsidies for this period are NOK 96 million.[12]

The company started operations on Svalbard in 1978, transporting crew from the new international airport at Longyearbyen to the mines at Svea and Ny-Ålesund. From 1994 the airline has operated Dornier 228 aircraft at Svalbard. Since 2002 the company has co-operated with the shipping pilot service in Bergen, flying pilots out to vessels at sea.

In 2000 its owner

Bristow Group) sold Lufttransport in its entirety to Knut Axel Ugland Holding in October 2008.[13]

Operations

Ambulance

Beechcraft King Air air ambulance at Tromsø Airport

In Norway Lufttransport has Beech King Air B200 ambulance planes stationed at

It also has helicopter bases at

Svalbard

The airline also has two

Kings Bay. One of the Dornier aircraft also carries out surveillance for the Norwegian Coast Guard, primarily checking fishing boats in the Barents Sea
. Lufttransport flies about 400 hours per year for the Coast Guard.

From August 29, 2019, one of the aircraft was fitted with high-resolution sensors and advanced communication equipment provided by

NORCE research centre making it the first passenger aircraft equipped for environmental monitoring.[14]

Ship pilots

Two Agusta helicopters based at

gross tons with petroleum products are required to have a pilot onboard while navigating into the petroleum refineries of Kårstø, Mongstad and Sture. In addition the company has a contract to fly crew to Teekay Petrojarl's ships in the North Sea

Værøy

Lufttransport flies the public service obligation between Bodø Airport and Værøy Heliport with two daily round trips (one trip on Saturdays and Sundays) with an Agusta Bell AB139.

Fleet

As of August 2017 the Lufttransport fleet includes:[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Olsen-Hagen: 77
  2. ^ Olsen-Hagen: 78
  3. ^ a b Olsen-Hagen: 79
  4. ^ Olsen-Hagen: 76
  5. ^ "Mørefly får operatøransvar for luftambulansen" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 29 April 1993.
  6. ^ Hagby: 228
  7. ^ Hjelle: 127
  8. ^ Olsen-Hagen: 80
  9. ^ Olsen-Hagen: 81
  10. ^ "Lufttransport AS får helikopterruten Værøy–Bodø" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 8 February 2005.
  11. Ministry of Transport and Communications
    . 30 July 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  12. Ministry of Transport and Communications
    . 29 November 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  13. ^ "Norwegian helicopter turns British". Aftenbladet. 28 October 2008. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  14. ^ "World's first passenger aircraft for environmental monitoring".
  15. ^ Flight International, 3–9 October 2006

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lufttransport.
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