Trondheim Airport, Værnes
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| Trondheim Airport, Værnes Trondheim lufthavn, Værnes |
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| IATA: TRD – ICAO: ENVA | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Avinor | ||
| Serves | Trondheim, Norway | ||
| Location | Stjørdal, Norway | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 56 ft / 17 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 09/27 | 9,052 | 2,759 | Asphalt |
| 13/31 CLOSED |
4,771 | 1,454 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (2007) | |||
| Passengers | 3,406,281 | ||
| Air movements | 54,954 | ||
Trondheim Airport, Værnes (IATA: TRD, ICAO: ENVA) (Norwegian: Trondheim lufthavn, Værnes) is located in Stjørdal, Nord-Trøndelag, approximately 35 km east of Trondheim. This is an important regional airport, serving Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag counties. In addition, it also serves as a hub for the southern part of Nordland county. It is owned and operated by Avinor in conjunction with the Royal Norwegian Air Force.
Værnes is the fourth largest airport in Norway, and had 54,954 civil air movement and 3,406,281 passengers in 2007. Scheduled domestic flights are offered by four airlines to 16 destinations, while four operators offer nine international destinations, including daily flights to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London and Stockholm. Charter operators offer 12 additional destinations on regular basis. Quite a bit of the domestic operations comes from Værnes being a hub for regional airports in northern Nord-Trøndelag and southern Nordland, with numerous flights with Dash 8 aircraft operated by Widerøe. Still, the most important route is the route to Oslo, with about 33 daily flights with Boeing 737 aircraft. This route is the ninth largest route in Europe.[1]
The Airport is divided into two terminals. The domestic terminal A was opened in 1994, and is equipped with skybridges. The old main terminal, opened in 1982, has been renamed terminal B and is used for international flights. It has now been renovated including a new larger duty free store.
You can get to Trondheim by taxi, car, bus or train, all taking approximately 30 minutes. The rail service has north- and southbound departures every hour with the commuter train Trønderbanen. Værnes was the first airport in Northern Europe to have an integrated railway station in the terminal, located between Hell and Stjørdal on Nordlandsbanen. The highways E6 and E14 go right by the airport. Taxi 24/7, and Airport Express Coaches take you to the hotels in downtown Trondheim every 15 minutes (30 minutes on Saturdays).
Also connected to the airport is the Norwegian Home Guard base for the Trøndelag district. This is the reason why the airport is relatively large for a city of that size, as it had been built during the cold war to allow large numbers of NATO military personnel to pass through going to their forward deployed equipment stores, in case of war with the Soviet Union.
Contents |
[edit] Airlines and Destinations
[edit] Domestic destinations
- Helitrans (Kristiansund)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle (Bergen, Bodø [starts June 1], Oslo, Tromsø [starts June 1])
- Scandinavian Airlines (Bergen, Bodø, Molde, Oslo, Stavanger, Tromsø, Ålesund)
- Widerøe: (Bodø, Brønnøysund, Harstad/Narvik, Mo i Rana, Mosjøen, Namsos, Rørvik, Sandefjord, Sandnessjøen)
[edit] International destinations
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle (Alicante, Dubrovnik [summer], London-Stansted, Malaga, Murcia, Nice, Prague, Riga, Warsaw)
- Scandinavian Airlines (Alicante, Stockholm-Arlanda)
- Widerøe (Copenhagen)
[edit] Charter destinations
- Air Europa (Palma de Mallorca)
- Air Via (Burgas)
- BH Air (Burgas)
- EuroCypria (Larnaca)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle (Split)
- Novair (Chania)
- Pegasus Airlines (Antalya)
- Scandinavian Airlines (Alicante, Burgas, Chania, Heraklion, Rhodos, Santorini, Split)
- Spanair (Palma de Mallorca)
- SunExpress (Antalya)
- Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (Antalya, Chania, Rhodos, Varna)
[edit] History
The military activity at Værnes started in 1887 when the Norwegian military bought Værnes farm and converted it to an army camp. On 26 March 1914 the first plane took off, a military Maurice Farman MF-7 "Longhorn". The first three permanent planes were stationed in 1919, in 1920 the first hangar was built, and in 1922 radio equipment was installed.
During the Second World War, on 9 April 1940 the German invasion forces occupied Norway and the Luftwaffe occupied Værnes with little resistance. Before the Germans arrived at Værnes the airport served as a mobilisation point in the first hours of the Norwegian Campaign, allowing the future garrison of Hegra Fortress to be equipped. The Germans forces immediately started improving the airport, helped by thousands of Norwegian workers, within weeks having built a new runway. This new runway was used by the Germans to more effectively bomb the Norwegian and Allied forces on the Narvik front. By 1942 they had constructed three concrete runways, the longest 1 620 meters, and multiple hangars, bunkers and anti-aircraft artillery, totalling more than 100 buildings. There were probably at the most 2,000 German soldiers and 2,000 Norwegian labourers at Værnes during World War II. After the German capitulation on 8 May 1945 the Luftwaffe withdrew from Værnes.
After World War II the airport was initially left to the Royal Air Force, but they soon withdrew leaving the Norwegian military in charge. Numerous squadrons, including 332, 331 and 337 were stationed at Værnes in the post-war years. In 1952 the Royal Norwegian Air Force Pilot School was moved to Værnes, but in 1954 Ørland Main Air Station became the main air force base in Central Norway, and the vast majority of the armed air forces (with the exception of the school) moved to Ørland.
While Heimdal was the original desired place for the civilian airport in Trøndelag, Norwegian authorities decided in 1951 to build a civilian airport at Værnes. Also NATO decided to contribute towards the construction of the military bit of the airport. The new airport was finished on 21 October 1961. The civil traffic increased steadily, while the military traffic was constant.
Before the war, Det Norske Luftfartsselskap (DNL, Scandinavian Airline Systems' predecessor) had been flying sea plane routes to Ilsvika and Jonsvannet with Junkers 52s. After the war DNL moved its operations to Hommelvika Harbor. In 1947/48 DNL tried flights to Oslo with Douglas DC-3 Dakotas, but not before 1952 did SAS start flights to Værnes again. Braathens SAFE started flying to the grass runway at Lade in 1953, but moved to Værnes in 1956.
A new terminal building was built in 1965, but soon there were capacity problems, mainly because of new charter flights to Southern Europe. In the end of the 1970s a new taxiway was built, and in 1982 a new terminal was completed. But it was also too small and a new Terminal A was opened in 1994, along with another taxiway in 1999. International flights now operate from the old terminal, now called Terminal B, renovated in 2006. A new tower (currently the second highest control tower in Norway) was taken into use in 2005.
After decades long duopoly services between Værnes and Oslo by SAS and Braathens SAFE, low-cost carrier Color Air started flying the route in 1998. This led to a fierce price war, and up to 50 daily flights between the two airports, making the route one of the ten most trafficked routes in Europe. But soon Color Air was bankrupt, and later Braathens was bought by SAS and merged to SAS Braathens. In 2003 Norwegian Air Shuttle started competing on the same route.
[edit] Ground transport
| Trondheim Airport Station | |
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|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Værnes |
| Municipality | Stjørdal |
| Line(s) | Nordlandsbanen |
| Service | |
| Opened | 1994 |
| IATA code | TRD |
| Line operator(s) | Norges Statsbaner |
| Connections | |
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Trondheim Airport, Værnes |
Northern Europe's first integrated railway station in the terminal, Trondheim Airport Station, was completed in 1994 and allows for dry passage from the aircraft to a train. Located between Stjørdal and Hell on Nordlandsbanen, the airport is served by commuter trains both northwards to Innherred and southwards to Trondheim, with an hourly headway. In addition, express trains operate northwards to Nordland, including night trains.
The Airport Express Coaches operate four times hourly to Downtown Trondheim (twice hourly on Saturdays), stopping at most major hotels, the train station and the bus station. There are also some express buses operated by NOR-WAY Bussekspress northbound to Namsos.
The highways E6 and E14 go right by the airport. The E6 and the railway go in tunnels under the runway of the airport. The airport has approximately 3000 parking places, both indoor and outdoor. Car rental is available from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and National. Taxis are available 24/7.
| Preceding station | Line | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hell | Nordlandsbanen | Stjørdal | ||
| Preceding station | Express trains | Following station | ||
| Trondheim S | Trondheim S - Bodø | Stjørdal | ||
| Preceding station | Local trains | Following station | ||
| Hell | Trønderbanen | Stjørdal | ||
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official Værnes website
- Airport information for ENVA at World Aero Data
[edit] References
- Tjomsland, Audun and Wilsberg, Kjell (1999) Braathens SAFE 50 år: Mot alle odds, Oslo, ISBN 82-990400-1-9
- ^ http://www.boarding.no/art.asp?id=24013 (in Norwegian)
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