Bodø Airport
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| Bodø Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| IATA: BOO - ICAO: ENBO | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military/Public | ||
| Operator | Avinor | ||
| Serves | Bodø | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 42 ft (13 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 07/25 | 11,136 | 3,394 | Concrete |
Bodø Airport (IATA: BOO, ICAO: ENBO) (Norwegian: Bodø lufthavn) is a main civilian airport in Bodø, Norway. It is located next to the military air force base Bodø Main Air Station, just south of the city centre, on the westernmost tip of the peninsula Bodø lies on. The airport has a single concrete, 2794 m x 45 m runway which runs in a roughly east-west direction. In addition to jet operations to Oslo, the airport serves as a hub for regional airline flights to Helgeland, Lofoten and Vesterålen. It served 1,430,000 passengers in 2006.
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[edit] History
Postal flights to Bodø started in 1921, and before 1940 Bodø was served with sea planes from Widerøe.
The fist runway at Bodø Airport was build during World War II by British troops, after Germany had invaded Southern Norway. On May 26, 1940 three British Gloster Gladiators landed and made out the first airborne defence for the city. The area was swampland, and the first makeshift runway consisted of wooden planks floating on the water. But soon the superior Luftwaffe seized control over the airport, and held it for the duration of the war, among other things upgrading the runway to concrete.
Not much was done with airport until the Korean War started in 1950. The west was affraid of an Soviet attack on Western Europe, so a new airfield was constructed at a new location southwest of the old one. Originally planned to be finished in 1951, the new airport didn't open until 1956, though the civilian bit opened in 1952. From then on fighter jets have been stationed at Bodø. In 1988 NATO injected vast amounts of money to enable the airfield to handle large air forces in the event of an emergency.
[edit] Air force base
Main article: See Bodø Main Air Station
The Bodø Main Air Station, situated near at the airport, is the biggest air station in Norway operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force. This air station is the home of the 331st and the 332nd Squadron of F-16s in addition to a detachment from the 330th Squadron of Westland Sea King helicopters.
[edit] Airlines and destinations
[edit] Domestic scheduled
- Kato Airline (Røst)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle (Oslo, Trondheim [starts June 1, 2008], Tromsø [starts June 1, 2008])
- Scandinavian Airlines (Oslo, Tromsø, Trondheim)
- Widerøe (Andenes, Bergen, Brønnøysund, Harstad/Narvik, Leknes, Mo i Rana, Mosjøen, Narvik, Sandnessjøen, Stokmarknes, Svolvær)
[edit] Scheduled helicopter
- Lufttransport (Værøy)
[edit] Charter
- Scandinavian Airlines (Chania)
[edit] Norwegian Aviation Museum
The Norwegian Aviation Museum is located next to the airport in a propellor-shaped building. An aviation centre at the airport was approved by parliament on March 31, 1992 and opened May 15, 1994. The aviation museum was opened on January 1, 1998, founded by the local city council of Bodø and county council of Nordland. The museum is a "national museum" and funded through the national budget.
The museum exhibits several military aircraft including a U-2, Gloster Gladiator and Supermarine Spitfire. There are also some civilian aircraft on display such as the De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter.
[edit] Accidents and incidents
- Lockheed U-2 spyplanes were stationed at Bodø in 1958. On May 1, 1960 a U-2 plane piloted by Gary Powers was headed for Bodø from Pakistan but crashed causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.
- On September 29, 2004 an asylum seeker, armed with an axe, attacked the pilot of a Kato Air flight from Narvik, causing the plane, a Dornier 228 to go into a dive. Fortunately the assailant was overpowered by passengers, including Odd Eriksen, later a member of the government (Minister of Commerce), and the plane made a safe landing at Bodø.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Avinor entry for Bodø Airport (Norwegian)
- Avinor entry for Bodø Airport (in English, sparser information)
- Airport information for ENBO at World Aero Data
- Norwegian Aviation Museum website
- Norwegian Air Force's page on Bodø Air Force Base (in Norwegian)
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