page_title: Gressholmen Airport
section_title: Establishment
hierarchical_section_title: Gressholmen Airport / History / Establishment
caption_attribution_description: English: A Det Norske Luftfartsselskap Junker Ju 52 LN-DAI seaplane landing at Gressholmen Airport in Oslo, Norway.
context_page_description: Gressholmen Airport was a water aerodrome situated the island of Gressholmen in Oslo, Norway. It served as the main airport for Oslo from 1927 to 1939, along with Kjeller Airport. The aerodrome consisted of docks, a landing ramp, terminal building and a hangar and used a section of the Oslofjord as its runway. Being located on an island it was necessary to transport passengers by boat to the island. The airport only operated during the summer, typically from May through September.
  Oslo's first airport was located on the neighboring island of Lindøya, but the authorities preferred Gressholmen as a location. Although plans surfaced in 1919, funding was not ensured until 1926. Norsk Luftruter received a concession to operate the airport, ground handling and the ferry service. Deutsche Luft Hansa commenced the first service on 18 July 1927, flying from Oslo via Gothenburg and Copenhagen to Szczecin. The following year the terminus was moved to Travemünde outside Lübeck. The airport was also used by Halle & Peterson's Norway Post flights during the early 1930s and by Widerøe in 1934.
  Norwegian Air Lines started domestic flights and an international service to Amsterdam in 1935.
context_section_description: Plans for an airport serving Oslo were first presented by Det Norske Luftfartrederi in 1919. The airline proposed that Lindøya, an island located immediately north of Gressholmen, would be a suitable site. The issue was debated in Parliament, as the airline proposed leasing 2 hectares (4.9 acres) of the island from the state for 99 years. Oslo Port Authority opposed, stating that the use of Lindøya would interfere with the ship traffic in the port. Instead, they proposed that Gressholmen would be a more suitable location. A committee was appointed by the Ministry of Defense—which was at the time responsible for aviation policy—to look into the construction of airport. It concluded that airports should be state-owned, and that the state should grant sufficient funding to establish an airport in Oslo. This would allow for the establishment of a service to Copenhagen, and possibly at a later date domestic flights to Trondheim, Bodø and Harstad. The issue was dismissed by Parliament.
  The issue was considered by Parliament again in 1923. By then Oslo Municipality had issued a grant of 130,000 Norwegian krone (NOK) under the explicit condition that the state finance the rest of the airport. The total cost of construction was estimated at NOK 275,000. Parliament debated issuing NOK 50,000, but the proposal failed to gather a majority. An air route had by then been established from Hamburg via Malmö to Gothenburg and the airline offered to extend it to Oslo if a suitable airport was built. The issue resurfaced in Parliament in both 1926 and 1927. The main argument from those opposing the airport was that they did not believe that commercial aviation had any potential. NOK 10,000 was granted in 1926, but further funding was not made available.
  Construction commenced in 1926 and was completed the following year. This included the construction of a hangar and a slip. Wilhelm Meisterlin established the company Norske Luftruter. It did not have its own aircraft, but instead cooperated with Deutsche Luft Hansa. Norske Luftruter bought a boat, MB Ørn I, and was responsible for ground handling for Deutsche Luft Hansa, ground transport and the operation of the airport. Within a month Norwegian Air Lines was established and it also applied to operate the airport and affiliated service, but this was rejected by the state. Instead, DNL was granted a concession to operate a ferry service from Oslo East Station to Gressholmen.
caption: Norwegian Air Lines' Junkers Ju 52 landing at the airport
exif: {}