page_title: Braathens
section_title: Destinations
hierarchical_section_title: Braathens / Destinations
caption_attribution_description: English: Braathens Boeing 737-200 at Basel Airport in July 1976 Suomi: Braathensin Boeing 737-200 Baselin lentoasemalla heinäkuussa 1976
context_page_description: Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, was a Norwegian airline which operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines in 2004 to become SAS Braathens. For most of its history, Braathens was the largest domestic airline in Norway, but did not operate an international network for many years. Its main hubs were Oslo Airport, Fornebu and later Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and briefly Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. The airline operated 118 aircraft of 15 models, the majority of which having been variations of the Boeing 737. Braathens served 53 airports and 50 cities with scheduled services through its history.
  The airline was founded in 1946 by Ludvig G. Braathen and originally used a fleet of Douglas DC-4 aircraft on routes to the Far East and South Africa. From 1954 the airline was forced to operate all its scheduled flights domestically, where it used de Havilland Herons. Braathens SAFE retained an international charter service using the DC-3 and DC-6. As new domestic airports were built, Braathens SAFE and SAS were awarded each their share of monopoly route concessions.
context_section_description: During its operations, the airline has served 53 airports serving 50 cities. Of these, 25 airports serving 23 cities were in Norway and 6 destinations and cities in Sweden. Braathens had provided international services to 24 airports serving 22 cities in 17 countries. Seven of these cities are in Asia, the rest in Europe. In addition, Braathens has served numerous destinations as both regular and ad-hoc charter. Braathens SAFE's main base was Oslo Airport, Gardermoen from 1946 to 1949, and then moved its main base to Oslo Airport, Fornebu. From the closing of Fornebu in 1998, it moved back to Gardermoen and established it as a hub. From 1997 to 1999, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport acted as a hub for Sweden. The main technical base was at Stavanger Airport, Sola.
  Prior to 1987 the Norwegian aviation market was split between Braathens SAFE and SAS. The two only competed head-on on the routes from Oslo to Stavanger and Trondheim. Braathens held a monopoly on the routes from Oslo to Kristiansand, Ålesund, Molde and Kristiansund, as well as the West Coast route between Bergen, Ålesund, Molde, Kristiansund and Trondheim, as well as from Western Norway to Northern Norway.
  With the opening of Gardermoen in 1998, Braathens had expanded its network to direct services from Oslo to Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Ålesund, Molde, Kristiansund, Trondheim, Bodø, Harstad/Narvik and Tromsø, in addition to a network of direct routes connected many of these airports with each other. In Sweden, Braahtens operated flights from Stockholm to Luleå, Umeå, Sundsvall, Jönköping and Halmstad. From Oslo, international services were provided to Malmö, Stockholm, Billund, Newcastle, London, Jersey, Nice and Rome, and from 2000 to Barcelona, Alicante and Málaga. Service were flown from several Norwegian cities to Amsterdam.
caption: Braathens SAFE Boeing 737-200 in 1976
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