Bergen Airport, Flesland (Norwegian: Bergen lufthavn, Flesland) (IATA: BGO, ICAO: ENBR) is the airport in Bergen, Norway, located 19 km south of the city center. It was opened in 1955, and built with funds from NATO. It has functioned as a combined civil and military airport since its opening. Flesland is owned and operated by Avinor.

Flesland is Norway's second largest airport, serving 4,852,740 passengers in 2007. Seven airlines offer domestic flights to 16 destinations while eight airlines offer flights to 19 international destinations, including daily flights to Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, London and Stockholm. Some of the traffic comes from Flesland's role as a hub for regional traffic from Sogn og Fjordane, with many flights with 37 seat Dash 8 airplanes operated by Widerøe and ATR 42 planes by Danish Air Transport. The old terminal has been converted to a heliport, which primarily serves oil platforms in the North Sea. Still, the most important route is the one to Oslo, with about 35 daily flights with Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Norwegian and Scandinavian Airlines. This route is the seventh busiest in Europe ^[1]

Its current terminal was designed by the local architect Halfdan Grieg and was opened in 1988. The same architect also designed the old terminal. The terminal has 11 gates with jetbridges, numbered 21-32 (gate 30 is for airplanes on the apron). In general, gates on the south side of the terminal are used for international flights while gates on the north side are for domestic flights. Gates in the middle, i.e. the west side, have various assignments.

[edit] History

The first steps towards an airport at Flesland were taken in 1937 when parts of the farm Flesland were expropriated by the City. In 1952 the authorities decided to build an airport there, and in 1955 it was finished with a runway at 2 999 meters. The original airport was primarily financed by NATO. A new terminal opened in 1988 and a new tower in 1991.

[edit] Future plans

Avinor has decided to use 461 million NOK to upgrade the airport, with among other things extension of the international terminal, better aircraft parking, change to the taxiways, new operational buildings, deicing platform, ground radar, secondary radar and runway center lights.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Domestic

• Bergen Air Transport (Notodden)
• Danish Air Transport (Florø, Oslo)
• Norwegian Air Shuttle (Oslo, Rygge, Stavanger, Trondheim)
• Scandinavian Airlines (Ålesund, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Kristiansund, Molde, Oslo, Stavanger, Trondheim)
• Vildanden (Skien)
• Widerøe (Bodø, Førde, Oslo, Sandane, Sandefjord, Sogndal, Stavanger, Tromsø, Ørsta/Volda)

[edit] International

• airBaltic (Riga)
• British Airways (London-Heathrow)
• Cimber Air (Billund)
• Icelandair (Reykjavík-Keflavík)
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
• Loganair (Shetland)
• Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
  • Lufthansa Regional (Hamburg)
• Norwegian Air Shuttle (Alicante, Berlin-Schönefeld, Dubrovnik, Krakow, Las Palmas, London-Gatwick, Malaga, Murcia, Nice, Paris-Orly, Prague, Salzburg, Split, Stockholm-Arlanda, Warsaw)
• Scandinavian Airlines (Aberdeen, Alicante, Copenhagen, London-Gatwick, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tokyo-Narita)
• Widerøe (Aberdeen, Edinburgh [seasonal])

[edit] Charter

• Air Europa (Barcelona, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca)
• Atlasjet (Antalya, Dalaman)
• BH Air (Bourgas)
• Eurocypria Airlines (Larnaca)
• Pegasus Airlines (Antalya)
• Scandinavian Airlines System (Chania, Funchal, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Palma de Mallorca, Santorini, Split, Tenerife)
• SunExpress (Antalya)
• Spanair (Las Palmas, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife)
• TUIfly Nordic (Faro)

[edit] Heliport

• CHC Helikopter Service
• Norsk Helikopter

[edit] Ground transport

• Bus
  • Flybussen runs between Bergen city center and Bergen Airport Flesland. The trip takes between 30 - 45 minutes, depending on traffic. The route alternates on driving through Nesttun and Fyllingsdalen. Stops in the city center include the Bus station/Railway station, Radisson SAS Hotel Norge, The Fish market and Radisson SAS Royal Hotel Bryggen. Fare is currently NOK 80.

• Car
  • 3127 parking spaces onsite or within walking distance. Operated on airport property by EuroPark AS
  • Budget car park 3 minutes away from the airport, in Lønningsveien 12. Operated by Flesland Parkering. Free shuttle to and from the airport. Free coffee and morning newspaper (in Norwegian).
  • The rental companies Europcar, Budget Rent a Car, National Car Rental, Avis Rent A Car System Inc. and Hertz' Rent-A-Car are represented at the airport

The Bergen Light Rail is proposed to eventually run to the airport, but this extension is not part of the original line under construction.

[edit] See also

• List of the largest airports in the Nordic countries

[edit] External links

• Official web page
• Bergens Tidenes web camera
• Airport information for ENBR at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.boarding.no/art.asp?id=24013 (Norwegian)