Norving Explained

Airline:Norving
Founded:1971
Ceased:1993
Headquarters:Kirkenes, Norway

Norving A/S was a regional airline that operated in Norway between 1971 and 1993. It had roots back to the establishment of Varangfly in 1959. At its peak, the company had eight bases and 27 aircraft.[1]

History

Varangfly was founded on 24 July 1959 by Bjarne Zakariassen, Bjørn Rist and Odd Bentzen. In 1971, the company merged with Tromsø-based Nor-Wings, and the following year it bought Bodø-based Nordlandsfly. At that time the airline was renamed Norving. With the take-over, Norving had ambulance aircraft covering all of Northern Norway.[2]

With the construction of the regional airports in Western Troms and in Finnmark, Norving competed to get the concession for subsidies from the Ministry of Transport. The government chose instead to grant the concession to Widerøe, who had been operating the other parts of the regional airports in Western and Northern Norway.[3]

Norving continued to work for more regional airports in Finnmark, and was instrumental in establishing them in Berlevåg, Båtsfjord, Gamvik, Hasvik and Kjøllefjord. During the 1980s, Norving made a massive expansion into Southern Norway, and tried to capture concessions for routes feeding the regional airport to the large cities. In particular, the airline established itself at Skien Airport, Geiteryggen, Geilo Airport, Dagali, Fagernes Airport, Leirin, Sandefjord Airport, Torp, Stord Airport, Sørstokken and Hamar Airport, Stafsberg. However, Norving could not make enough revenue to make a profit, and was forced to massively close down routes. At the most, the company had eight bases and 27 aircraft. By 1989, there was only two bases and four planes still in operation, before the company filed for bankruptcy in 1993. Subsidized routes in Northern Norway were taken over by Widerøe.

Fleet

Through its history, Norving operated the following aircraft:[4]

ModelQuantityBuiltFirst inLast out
2 1943–44 1960 1965
1 1948 1960 1977
1 1962 1963
1 1961 1961 1963
5 1961 1961 1971
2 1941–44 1965 1972
1 1948 1966 1967
3 1956–67 1972 1981
1 1954 1967 1982
8 1969–76 1970 1992
7 1971–80 1972 1988
1 1969 1969 1971
1 1967 1967 1972
11 1968–77 1970 1982
1 1975 1975 1978
2 1975–76 1975 1978
5 1977–80 1977 1986
5 1975–82 1979 1990
2 1968 1984 1987
2 1981–82 1983 1989
9 1982–86 1982 1992
3 1985–87 1985 1989

Destinations

Destinations served by Norving:[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Melling, Kjersti . Boken om flyselskapet Norvings historie . 30 January 2009 . no.
  2. Web site: Norwegian Aviation Museum . 100 Years of Norwegian Aviation . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061010022008/http://luftfart.museum.no/Engelsk/News/Brosjyre1005/Engelsk%20Museumskatalog.pdf . 10 October 2006 . 30 January 2009 . no.
  3. News: 7 July 1973 . Norvings kontorer for langt fra Løvebakken . . 3 . no.
  4. Web site: Melling, Kjersti . Flytyper . 30 January 2009 . no.
  5. Web site: Melling, Kjersti . Lenker . 30 January 2009 . no.