page_title: Fagernes Airport, Leirin
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Fagernes Airport, Leirin / History
caption_attribution_description: Fagernes city to the left and Leirin airport til the right. Photo taken by myself April 10th 2004.
context_page_description: Fagernes Airport, Leirin is a general aviation airport in Fagernes, in the municipality of Nord-Aurdal, Innlandet county, Norway. It has been a airport for passenger flights, serving Fagernes and the surrounding valleys of Valdres, Hallingdal and Gudbrandsdal in Southern Norway, 190 kilometres from Oslo. Opened in 1987, it was owned and operated by state-owned Avinor. The airport is located 822 metres above sea level, and has a 2,049-metre runway. It did provide a regional service for the local population to Oslo, subsidized by the Ministry of Transport, as well as charter services during winter serving the nearby ski resorts. In 2014, the airport had 6,393 passengers.
  The airport was originally planned as a conventional regional airport, but during its construction it was redesigned to accommodate larger jet aircraft. Originally owned by six local municipalities, it was taken over by the state in 1996. Norsk Air started operations in 1987, but terminated them the following year. Coast Air introduced state-subsidized services in 1990, and continued until the contract was won by Teddy Air in 1996.
context_section_description: Plans for an airport at Fagernes were initiated in 1975, and approved by Parliament in 1984, along with three other regional airports, at Rørvik, Mosjøen and Førde Airport, Bringeland. Construction started in 1985, but plans were changed in 1986, when local authorities decided to build a longer runway to allow charter flights. The nearby Geilo Airport, Dagali, a two-hour drive away, had already made a similar decision, and was in the process of extending its own runway. The airport opened on 31 October 1987. The state had initially paid 60% of the NOK 29.3 million investments for the 800-metre (2,600 ft) version of the airport, and the rest was financed by municipal and county grants. The increased cost of building a longer runway was estimated at NOK 59 million, financed by loans and municipal grants, plus a NOK 10 million investment from Dansk Folkeferie. The airport was owned by Valdres Lufthavn A/S, a privately held limited company with six municipalities as its principal shareholders. Following the airport's establishment, the Norwegian State Railways' Valdres Line was closed in 1989.
  By 1988, building costs had increased from NOK 88 to 131 million. The municipalities had co-signed for a foreign loan, and were forced to pay NOK 3.5 million annually just in interest, in addition to the operating cost of the airport; these were aggravated by not only the loss of the sole scheduled service, but also considerably less charter traffic than estimated. In 1990, the airport company was forced to refinance, and NOK 61 of 85 million in dept was refinanced, and the obligations transferred from the airport company to the municipalities and the county. However, by 1991, passenger numbers were above 20,000, three quarters coming from charter traffic. On 1 January 1996, Fagernes Airport was nationalized, along with 25 other regional airports, and put under the control of the Norwegian Airport Authority (now Avinor). Following the closure of Geilo Airport, Dagali in 2003, Fagernes experienced an increase in charter traffic.
caption: Aerial view of the airport
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