فنادق قريبة من ⁨Bergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)⁩

Bergen Airport (Nynorsk: Bergen lufthamn; IATA: BGO, ICAO: ENBR), alternatively Bergen Flesland Airport or simply Flesland Airport, is an international airport located at Flesland in the city and municipality of Bergen, Vestland, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the second-busiest airport in Norway, with 6,306,623 passengers in 2018. Flesland is operated by the state-owned Avinor. Until 1999, Flesland Air Station of the Norwegian Air Force was co-located at the airport. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe are the largest airlines operating at the airport. The route to Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, is among the busiest in Europe. Substantial traffic is generated by CHC Helikopter Service and Bristow Norway to offshore oil platforms in the North Sea. Originally, Bergen was served by water aerodromes at Flatøy, Sandviken, and Herdla. Financing of Flesland was largely secured through NATO funds, and the airport opened on 2 October 1955. Until the 1980s, Bergen was the Norwegian airport used for intercontinental flights by SAS to New York. New terminals were opened in 1988 and in August 2017. The Bergen Light Rail was extended to the airport in April 2017. == History == === Construction === The first aircraft to operate in Bergen was a demonstration flight by Carl Gustav Cederström on 25 September 1911. The first airport in the Bergen area was Flatøy Air Station, built by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service on the island of Flatøy. The water aerodrome was established in 1919; it remained in use until 1940. Norway's first scheduled airline service was started by Det Norske Luftfartsrederi between Bergen, Haugesund and Stavanger in 1920, and operated out of Bergen Airport, Sandviken, a water aerodrome just north of the city center. The aerodrome became the Bergen base for both Norwegian Air Lines and Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap. Planning of an airport with an airstrip took place during the 1930s. A series of public institutions made various reports between 1931 and 1938, which largely recommended Flesland as a location, which was at the time located in the then independent Fana Municipality. The main alternative was Herdla, an island northernmost in Askøy Municipality, which was first recommended in 1933. The main disadvantage with Flesland was the topography and that it would not be possible to build longer runways than 800 and 850 meters (2,620 and 2,790 ft), respectively. A municipal committee recommended therefore in 1938 that Herdla be chosen, to be jointly financed by the state and the municipality After the German occupation of Norway, the Wehrmacht started looking for a location for an airstrip. They were partially in need for a counteraction against British raids and in part in need to protect German ship traffic. Four locations were considered: Nesttun, Haukåsmyrene in Åsane, Flesland and Herdla. The choice of Herdla was taken after a German bomber emergency landed in a field and was later able to take off from there. Herdla received two runways, the longest 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) long. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) started working on plans for an airport for Bergen in 1947. Herdla was by them seen as the prime candidate, again based on the poor topography around Bergen. The CAA recommended that Herdla be chosen and that the two runways be expanded. However, its director, Einar Bøe, was skeptical to the Herdla plans, citing the lack of possibilities to extend the runway past the initially proposed 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) and the long travel distance from Herdla to the city. At the time there was no bridge either from Herdla to Askøy nor from Askøy to the mainland, nor was there a road across the island. Transport would therefore have to be carried out from Bergen using a ferry. The Minister of Transport and Communications Nils Langhelle from Bergen supported Bøe's concerns and recommended that Parliament place construction of an airport serving Bergen on hold. Engineering reports were made of both Herdla and Flesland in 1950 and 1951. Previous investigations of Flesland had concluded that the length of the runway was limited to a small valley which is located at about the middle of the current runway. The new report proposed connecting the proposed area to a larger area to the south of the valley, which was at the right elevation. This would allow for a 3,000-meter (9,800 ft) long runway. A political concern was the high cost of constructing a new airport. By 1950, land airports had been built for Oslo Airport, Fornebu, Stavanger, Trondheim and Kristiansand. This was supplemented with SAS deciding to terminate the services to Oslo and instead provide a feeder service to Stavanger. Alternatives were launched by two competing airlines: Braathens SAFE proposed a minor upgrade to Herdla which would allow them to operate with their de Havilland Heron aircraft. Widerøe on their side proposed using their Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, but these proved to expensive. At the same time the Royal Norwegian Air Force stated looking at Flesland as a suitable air station. Military engineers surveyed the area and concluded that it was well-suited for military purposes. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) granted funding for seven air stations in Norway in 1952, but these did not include Flesland. Financing was instead secured through a national military communications project, of which 16 million Norwegian krone (NOK) was set aside over a period of three years, which would secure construction of a 1,460-meter (4,790 ft) runway. A further NOK 4 million was presumed financed by the municipalities of Bergen and Fana to build a terminal, eminent domain and a road. The plans were passed by Parliament on 25 April 1952. The military funding was arranged by Langhelle, who by then had been appointed Minister of Defence. Flesland received additional NATO grants in 1953, which would finance NOK 50 million and the Ministry of Defence NOK 5 million. The increased funding allowed the runway to be extended to 2,440 meters (8,010 ft). Construction started on 14 August 1952 with construction of a road from Blomsterdalen. Construction on the airport itself started in early 1953. Between 200 and 300 people worked on the construction, some of whom lived in sheds at Nordheim. Work was carried out in two shifts. Thirty farms were partially expropriated. Half a million cubic meters (18 million cu ft) of rock were blasted and a similar amount of earthwork moved in the construction process. The work consisted of a 2,440-by-45-meter (8,005 by 148 ft) runway and an equivalently long taxiway, although it was only half the width. The terminal building cost NOK 200,000 and was located next to a parking lot with space for 70 cars. A 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) long barbed wire fence circumferenced the airport. The airport had an instrument landing system from the start. Two people were killed in the construction, which had a total cost of NOK 70 million. === Early operational history === The first aircraft to land at the airport was a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter of the Air Force on 18 June 1954. At the time, 800 meters (2,600 ft) of the runway was completed. The paved section was extended to 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) and several Douglas DC-3 aircraft landed. The first revenue flight was a charter carried out by Braathens SAFE for SK Brann, who flew to Oslo to play a football match. The military officially took the airport into use on 14 September 1954. The official civilian opening took place on 2 October 1955. By then, the airport had a temporary terminal and control tower, the airport road was not paved, aviation fuel tanks were not installed and there was no snow-removal equipment. From the opening, Flesland was served by three airlines. SAS flew three round trips to Oslo and once per day to Stavanger, Kristiansand and onwards to Aalborg in Denmark, with correspondence onwards to Copenhagen. Twice per week, the Stavanger flight corresponded with services to London and Amsterdam. Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap flew services northwards along the coast to towns in Møre og Romsdal and to Trondheim. Iceland-based Loftleiðir received permission to operate a flight from Flesland via Reykjavík to New York twice per week. The airport had 70,000 passengers during its first twelve months of operations and exceeded 100,000 the following year. The temporary terminal was too small for this traffic and already during construction there was designed a larger terminal by Halfdan Grieg. By 1956, it was determined that the new terminal building would be too small. Also, an expansion of the runway was discussed that year. SAS announced that they would take delivery of the intercontinental jetliner Douglas DC-8, which would require a longer runway than was available at both Flesland and Fornebu. The cost of extending the runway to 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) would cost NOK 3.5 million in Bergen and NOK 30 million in Oslo. Helikopter Service established itself at Flesland in 1958, two years after the Stavanger-based company was established. The same year, Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap filed for bankruptcy and Ålesund Airport, Vigra, opened. Thus Braathens SAFE was awarded the concession for the route Stavanger–Bergen–Ålesund–Trondheim. Both SAS and Braathens were granted concession to operate the route from Kristiansand via Stavanger to Bergen. The same year, a new terminal building opened. During a short period in 1959, there was a squadron stationed at Flesland. From 1962, there were regular detachments within NATO that were earmarked for Flesland. Every other year, there were larger exercises with about a dozen aircraft and lasting for several weeks. Smaller training sessions were held every six weeks. The air station was upgraded in 1962 and consisted of a series of mountain halls, which could house more than twenty-five fighter aircraft. These also included barracks and commando facilities. Flesland was designated as a deployment site for nuclear warheads by NATO, which had prior to 1962 been designated to Sola Air Station. Components for nuclear bombs were most probably stored at Flesland, although the warheads themselves were probably not stored there. With the delivery of DC-8-aircraft, SAS started a direct service to New York. The runway at Fornebu was too short to handle the DC-8, so Flesland became the main intercontinental hub in Norway. Another important factor during the 1960s was the low range of the aircraft—thus Bergen was a stop-over for aircraft from Stockholm and Copenhagen. Later, the route was taken over using the Boeing 747. SAS started a direct service from Bergen to Tromsø in 1965. Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget, opened in 1970, with Braathens SAFE receiving the route concession from Bergen. Two years later, in a national realignment of concessions, SAS lost their right to fly to Tromsø. Instead Braathens SAFE was granted the right to fly from Bergen via Ålesund, Kristiansund, and the newly opened Molde Airport, Årø, to Bodø and Tromsø. The first four regional airports in Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal were opened in 1971, and Widerøe started flights to Florø, Førde, Sogndal and Ørsta–Volda. They were operated with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, and passengers had to transfer at Flesland to reach Oslo. A SAS service to New York from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, was introduced in 1974, and gradually the service was reduced, in part because of the increased range of newer aircraft. Haugesund Airport, Karmøy, opened in 1975, and SAS opened a service between the two cities. Because of the increase of traffic was making the terminal building more cramped, a new administration building opened in the early 1970s, with a fire station in the ground floor. At the peak in 1976 and 1977, the air station had 60 employees and 15 conscripts. Helikopter Service started services to offshore oil platforms in May 1976; the first services were to Statfjo