page_title: Oslo Airport, Fornebu
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Oslo Airport, Fornebu / History / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Oslo Airport, Fornebu on opening day: 1 July 1939 with a Ju-52 from Det Norske Luftfartselskap
context_page_description: Oslo Airport, Fornebu was the main airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and the area has since been redeveloped. The airport was located at Fornebu in Bærum, 8 kilometres from the city center. Fornebu had two runways, one 2,370-metre 06/24 and one 1,800 metres 01/19, and a capacity of 20 aircraft. In 1996, the airport had 170,823 aircraft movements and 10,072,054 passengers. The airport served as a hub for Scandinavian Airlines System, Braathens SAFE and Widerøe. In 1996, they and 21 other airlines served 28 international destinations. Due to limited terminal and runway capacity, intercontinental and charter airlines used Gardermoen. The Royal Norwegian Air Force retained offices at Fornebu.
  The airport opened as a combined sea and land airport, serving both domestic and international destinations. It replaced the land airport at Kjeller and the sea airport at Gressholmen. In 1940, it was taken over by the German Luftwaffe, but civilian air services began again in 1946 and it was then taken over by the Norwegian Civil Airport Administration.
context_section_description: Aviation in Oslo started in 1909, when Carl Cederström of Sweden made exhibition flights from fields at Etterstad. Following this, the Norwegian Army decided that it needed a military land airport, and established itself at Kjeller, outside Oslo, in 1912. Kjeller Airport served as the main airport for Norway until the 1930s, being the main base of the newly established Norwegian Army Air Service and the first place to have air services.
  In 1918, the first Norwegian airline, Det Norske Luftfartrederi, was established, and plans were made to start flying to Trondheim. The following year, civil aviation was discussed in the Norwegian Parliament for the first time. Norsk Luftfartsrederi wanted to start seaplane routes from Oslo, and applied to the state to be allowed to lease 2 hectares (4.9 acres) of the island Lindøya for 99 years. The Oslo Port Authority recommended that the application be denied, since it was already in negotiations with the state to purchase the island and seaplane services would interfere with ship traffic. The ministry recommended a ten-year lease. Sam Eyde, who was a member of parliament, recommended that the state should be responsible for all airports, and suggested a state-owned seaplane airport be built at Gressholmen. However no money was granted for construction of the airport until 1926, when Gressholmen Airport opened. Gressholmen was served by Norsk Luftfartsrederi and Deutsche Luft Hansa.
  During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the politicians became less satisfied with the solution. Kjeller was considered too far away from the city center (about 20 kilometres (12 mi), but along the mainline railway), while travel to Gressholmen needed to be made by ferry. The politicians also wanted to have a combined land- and seaplane airport, and it had become clear that serving Gressholmen was interfering with ship traffic. A committee was established to look into the matter. While considering many locations, it made detail surveys of only two places: Ekeberg, located southeast of the city center, and Fornebu, to the southwest.
caption: A DNL Ju 52 at the seaplane base in 1939
exif: {}