Molde Airport, Årø

Historie

Molde Airport, Årø is an international airport serving the town of Molde, Norway. It is situated on the shore at Årø in Molde, on the shore of the Moldefjord, 5km east of town center. The airport's catchment area covers the district of Romsdal.The airport features a runway measuring 2220by, aligned 07/25. Owned and operated by the state-owned Avinor, the airport served 481,406 passengers in 2014. Scheduled services are provided domestically to Oslo by Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle, and to Bergen, Stord and Trondheim by Widerøe. Wizz Air flies internationally to Gdańsk, while others fly seasonally to holiday destinations.Proposals for an airport serving Molde were discussed from 1940, but the neighboring towns of Ålesund and Kristiansund were ultimately prioritized. Construction commenced in 1969 and the airport opened on 5 April 1972. Scheduled services were granted to Braathens SAFE, who variously operated Fokker F-27s and Fokker F-28s, later also with larger Boeing 737s. The government took over operation from 1978. New or expansions of the terminals have taken place four times, in 1982, 1993, 2008 and 2012. Inclusive tour (IT) charters have been offered since 2004.