Bodø Airport

Bodø Airport Bodø lufthavn
IATA: BOO – ICAO: ENBO
Summary
Airport type	Joint (public and military)
Operator	Avinor
Serves	Bodø, Norway
Location	Bodø
Focus city for	Widerøe
Elevation AMSL	13 m / 43 ft
Coordinates
Website	Official website
Map
BOO
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 07/25 2,794 9,167 Asphalt/concrete
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 1,669,191 Air movements 42,531 Cargo (tonnes) 1,910
Source: AIP and Statistics from Avinor

Bodø Airport (Norwegian: Bodø lufthavn; IATA: BOO, ICAO: ENBO) is civil airport in Bodø, Norway. Located just south of the city centre, on the westernmost tip of the peninsula Bodø lies on, it shares facilities with the military air force base Bodø Main Air Station. The airport has a single concrete, 2,794 by 45 metres (9,167 by 148 ft) runway which runs in a roughly east-west direction. In addition to jet operations to major domestic destinations, the airport serves as a hub for regional airline flights to Helgeland, Lofoten and Vesterålen.

History

Postal flights to Bodø started in 1921, and before 1940 Bodø was served with sea planes from Widerøe.

The first runway at Bodø Airport was built during World War II by British troops, after Germany had invaded Southern Norway. On May 26, 1940 three Royal Air Force Gloster Gladiators, led by Rhodesian-born Flight Lieutenant Caesar Hull, landed and made the first airborne defence for the city. The area was swampland, and the first makeshift runway consisted of wooden planks floating on the water. 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 the airport until after the Korean War started in 1950. The West were afraid of a Soviet attack on Western Europe, so a new military base was constructed at a new location southwest of the old one. Originally planned to be finished in 1951, the new airport did not become fully operational until 1956, though the civilian terminal 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.

The airport was used during the testing of Concorde in June 1975.

In early 1980s the current civilian terminal were discussed and planned. The Norwegian Ministry of Finance approved the project early in 1988. The construction started few week after its approval and were completed spring 1990. The terminal has 11 gates, 3 with jetways. Since its opening in 1990, the number of passengers has mainly increased from 820,000 to 1,700,000 in 2013.

Air force base

Main article: Bodø Main Air Station

The Bodø Main Air Station, situated adjacent to the airport, is the largest air station in Norway operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force. This air station is the home of the 331st and the 332nd Squadrons equipped with General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons in addition to a detachment from the 330th Squadron of Westland Sea King helicopters.

Airlines and destinations

File:Bodo-lufthavn-wideroe-dash8.jpg

Widerøe de Havilland Canada Dash-8 103 at Bodø Airport

File:Bodo-lufthavn-terminal-exterior.jpg

Bodø Airport main Terminal

File:Bodø lufthavn2.jpg

The small planes Terminal

File:Bodo-lufthavn-flight-timetable.jpg

Departures timetable

Airlines	Destinations
Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways	Seasonal: Vienna
BH Air	Charter: Burgas
Corendon Airlines	Charter: Alta, Milas-Bodrum
Croatia Airlines	Charter: Split
Freebird Airlines	Seasonal: Antalya
Lufttransport	Værøy
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Bardufoss, Oslo-Gardermoen, Oslo-Torp, Tromsø Seasonal Charter: Antalya, Chania, Faro
Scandinavian Airlines	Oslo-Gardermoen, Trondheim, Tromsø Seasonal: Chania, Stockholm-Arlanda
Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia	Seasonal Charter: Gran Canaria
Widerøe	Andenes, Bergen, Brønnøysund, Harstad/Narvik-Evenes, Leknes, Mo i Rana, Mosjøen, Namsos, Narvik-Framnes, Rørvik, Røst, Sandnessjøen, Stokmarknes, Svolvær, Tromsø, Trondheim Seasonal: Sandefjord

Ground transport

The airport is very near the city centre, about 1.5 km distance, and from the railway station 2.0 km. Travel to the airport can be done by local bus, by taxi, or by walking. There are also regional buses from the airport.

Norwegian Aviation Museum

The Norwegian Aviation Museum is located next to the airport in a propeller-shaped building. An aviation centre at the airport was approved by parliament on March 31, 1992, and opened May 15, 1994. The military part – Luftfartsmuseet (Air Force Museum) was opened in May 1995. The Norwegian Aviation Museum was formed on January 1, 1998, founded by the government, 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 Lockheed U-2, Gloster Gladiator and Supermarine Spitfire. There are also some civilian aircraft on display such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, Junkers Ju 52/3m on floats, a Fokker F.28-1000 Fellowship.

Accidents and incidents

• Lockheed U-2 spyplanes were stationed at Bodø in 1958. On May 1, 1960, a U-2 piloted by Gary Powers was headed for Bodø from Pakistan but was shot down, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.
• On 4 December 2003, a Dornier 228 of Kato Airline operating as Flight 603 was struck by lightning, causing a fracture to the control rod that operated the elevator. The aircraft subsequently landed heavily just short of the runway at Bodø and was written off. Both crewmembers sustained serious injuries while both passengers sustained slight injuries.
• On September 29, 2004, an asylum-seeker armed with an axe attacked the pilot of a Kato Airline flight from Narvik, causing the aircraft, a Dornier 228, to go into a dive. The assailant was overpowered by passengers, including Odd Eriksen, later a member of the government (Minister of Commerce), and the aircraft made a safe landing at Bodø.