Hammerfest Airport

Hammerfest Airport
IATA: HFTICAO: ENHF
HFT
Location of airport in Finnmark
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Avinor
Serves Hammerfest
Location Hammerfest
Elevation AMSL 799 ft / 78.9 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
05/23 2,920/2,841 890/866 Asphalt

Hammerfest Airport (IATA: HFTICAO: ENHF) (Norwegian: Hammerfest lufthavn) is an airport serving the town of Hammerfest in Finnmark, Norway. The airport is located north of the town centre. The airport was opened on 30 July 1974 as part of a series of regional airports in northern Norway. It is operated by Avinor. In 2007, the airport served 148,541 passengers [1], making it the third largest airport in Finnmark. Traffic increased by 8.6% by April 2007 (domestic flights: 10.1%, international flights: 5.9%), compared to an average 5.6% movements increase during the same period (domestic: 6.7%, international: 2.6%).

The airport is served by Widerøe who operates flights to mainly Tromsø, which have connections onwards to Southern Norway. Widerøe operates De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 aircraft from Hammerfest. The helicopter company Norsk Helikopter also operates flights to offshore installations.

Contents

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
Norsk Helikopter Offshore installations
Widerøe Alta, Berlevåg, Båtsfjord, Hasvik, Honningsvåg, Mehamn, Sørkjosen, Tromsø[2]

Accidents and incidents

On 1 May 2005, the Widerøe Dash-8-100 airplane LN-WIK was buffeted by strong winds upon landing, and the landing gear on the right wing collapsed. While several passengers sustained injuries, there were no fatalities in the incident, but the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority imposed the strictest wind regulations in Norway upon the airport. [3]

New airport

Due to strong winds, the airport sometimes has to be closed for entire days. To allow for better regularity, local politicians have proposed building a new airport at Grøtnes, 15 km south of the city (about ). Initial plans involve building a 1,200 meter runway, allowing larger turboprops to operate. Some politicians have suggested building a 2,000 meter runway instead, one that would allow jet aircraft to operate direct flights to Oslo. A report from the Institute of Transport Economics claims the project with a longer runway would be profitable for the society—but a large cost for Avinor—and that there would be enough passengers for three daily round trips to Oslo. However, there is a certain amount of uncertainty since the petroleum industry's future demand is unknown.[4] Costs for the new airport are estimated between NOK 800 and 1,000 million, depending on the solution. Avinor has other priorities, and they do not want to prioritize Hammerfest in the near future, but it will mainly be the Norwegian government who will decide.[5] Car or bus to Alta airport (2 hours needed) is a common way of travelling Hammerfest-Oslo today.

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hammerfest_Airport Hammerfest Airport] at Wikimedia Commons