Coast Aero Center

Coast Aero Center
IATA
BX		 ICAO
CST		 Callsign
COAST CENTER
Founded 1975
Hubs Haugesund Airport, Karmøy
Destinations
Headquarters Karmøy, Norway
Key people Asbjørn Utne (owner)

Coast Aero Center was a regional airline based Haugesund Airport, Karmøy in Norway. It had only small-plane operations and mechanical services until 1984, when it got concessions to operate at the new Stord Airport, Sørstokken, Geilo Airport, Dagali, and eventually from Haugesund to Aberdeen. It soon turned out that the company was not profitable, and filed for bankruptcy in 1988. The estate continued on as Coast Air.

Contents

History

Establishment

The company started operations in 1975 as Coast Aero Center at Haugesund Airport. The company was a local mechanical and small-plane operator until 1984, when it started to apply for concessions to perform regional airline services in Norway. The company was owned and run by Asbjørn Utne.[1]

Expansion

Following the decision of SAS in 1984 to discontinue their route from Haugesund to Aberdeen in the Unite, Coast Aero Center applied for the concession the route from Haugesund, hoping to use a 15-seat Embraer Bandeirante that would be bought used for NOK 7.5 million.[2] The service would have a morning flight from Haugesund, with return in the evening. While SAS had said they were not interested in the route, in November 1985 they changed their mind, and choose to use their preferential right to start the route instead of Coast Aero Center.[3][4] However, in April 1986, SAS announced that they would not operate the route anyway. Following this, Coast Aero Center started on 20 August their service on the route.[5][6] It turned out to not be profitable, and was terminated in April 1987.[7]

In October 1984, Coast Aero Center, along with Norving and Fonnafly, applied for concession for the airport Stord Airport, Sørstokken, and routes to Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger.[8] Coast Air was successful at receiving the concession, and service started on 12 August 1986, operating a ten-seater Beechcraft Super King 200[9] In August, the company also received concession to fly from Stord via Skien Airport, Geiteryggen to Oslo.[10] By March 1987, traffic had increased so much that the company instead put into service a larger, 20-seater Twin Otter aircraft.[11] Additional concessions to fly to Haugesund were also granted the same year,[12] as were direct services to Oslo, making the stops in Skien unnecessary.[13]

In 1985, the company joined the joint venture Commuter Service, along with the other regional airlines Mørefly based in Ålesund, Trønderfly based in Trondheim and Norsk Flytjeneste based in Sandefjord. The goal was to coordinate the services, and grow through new, small route.[14]

On 20 June 1986, Coast Aero Center was awarded the concession for flying from Stavanger to Geilo Airport, Dagali until 1991. The airline put into service a Beechcraft Super King 200.[15] The ridership from Geilo turned out to be too bad, and both Coast Aero Center and Norving terminated their routes. Widerøe and Norsk Air said there was not enough ridership for them to be interested.[16] 1986 was NOK 14 million and the company had 24 employees. That year, they chose to connect to the PNR/Smart booking system.[6] The revenue in 1986 was NOK 14 million.[1] In 1988, the company also bid for operating parts of the Norwegian Air Ambulance.[17]

Bankruptcy

The company was thrown into financial distress on 7 February 1988, when Den norske Creditbank (DnC) announced that they would not issue more credit. At the time the company had nine daily routes, and 35 employees. All services were immediately suspended.[18] It had a debt of NOK 23 million, of which DnC demanded NOK 13 million paid by 10 February,[19] but the bank later gave the company three weeks to find the capital.[20] On 17 February a proposal for refinancing was made, where the hangars were sold to the local municipalities, who would also make a guarantee for NOK 2 million. DnC would delete part of the debt, and additional capital would be granted from the Kosmos-owned Norsk Air.[21] This was not sufficient, and on 29 April, Coast Aero Center filed for bankruptcy.[22] Also Asbjørn Utne had to file for personal bankruptcy.[23]

Destinations

References

  1. ^ a b Hansen, Lars Ditlev (27 October 1986). "Coast Aero Center har fått det de ville: Fra Stord til Oslo" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 37. 
  2. ^ "Flyrute Haugesund Aberdeen opprettes?" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 32. 17 October 1984. 
  3. ^ "Det er delte meninger om hvem som bør få konsesjon på ruteflyging mellom Haugesund Lufthavn og Aberdeen i Skottland." (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Norwegian News Agency. 1 November 1985. 
  4. ^ "SAS til Aberdeen" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 14 November 1985. 
  5. ^ "SAS avlsår Haugesund – Aberdeen rute" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 8 April 1986. 
  6. ^ a b "CAC koplet til databooking" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 31 July 1986. 
  7. ^ "Aberdeen-rutea nedlegges midlertidig" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 10 April 1987. 
  8. ^ Guhnfeldt, Cato (24 October 1984). "Stord flyplass innvies fredag" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 24. 
  9. ^ Eide, Martin (13 August 1986). "Sunnhordland endelig plassert på flykartet" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 48. 
  10. ^ "Ja til Coast Aero" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 19 August 1986. 
  11. ^ "Stord får flyruter" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 27 March 1987. 
  12. ^ "Nye flyruter til Stord" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 1 April 1987. 
  13. ^ "Direktefly Stord–Oslo" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 10 June 1987. 
  14. ^ "Fire flyselskaper går sammen" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 44. 27 August 1985. 
  15. ^ "Flyrute Dagali – Stavanger" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 20 June 1986. 
  16. ^ "Trolig slutt med rutetrafikk på Dagali flyplass" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 12 June 1986. 
  17. ^ Helskog, Svenn R. (6 May 1987). "15 selskaper vil flyambulanse" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 27. 
  18. ^ "DNC stanser flyselskap" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 7 February 1988. 
  19. ^ "Flyselskap konkurs idag?" (in Norwegian). 10 February 1988. 
  20. ^ "Flyselskap trenger kapital" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 30. 15 February 1988. 
  21. ^ "Nytt flyselskap i vest?" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten: p. 16. 18 February 1988. 
  22. ^ "Flyselskapet Coast Aero Center havner i skifteretten" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 18 February 1988. 
  23. ^ "Coast Aero Center konkurs" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 4 May 1988. 
Airlines of Norway