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| Founded | 1971 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Tromsø Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 24 | ||||||
| Parent company | Knut Axel Ugland Holding | ||||||
| Headquarters | Tromsø,Norway | ||||||
| Key people | Stig Næsh (CEO) | ||||||
| Website | lufttransport.no | ||||||
Lufttransport is aNorwegianhelicopter andfixed-wing airline that operates primarily airambulance helicopters and planes for the Norwegian andSwedish governments. In addition the airline offers services including surveillance for theNorwegian Coast Guard, transport ofship pilots and scheduled air transport in the Norwegian territory ofSvalbard.
The airline operates 10 helicopters and 14 fixed-wing aircraft and has headquarters in Tromsø. In 2005 the company had a revenue of 300 millionNOK.
Lufttransport was established in 1971 with a base atBardufoss Airport.[1] By 1973 it had a revenue of 1.3 millionNorwegian kroner and four employees.[2] It expanded in 1978 after it was awarded contracts to fly services out ofSvalbard Airport, Longyear in 1978. This included both flights for the mining companyStore Norske and the research instituteKings Bay toNy-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben.[1]
The company's largest growth came in 1980, when took steps to start flying offshore services. Lufttransport was seen as a credible competitor to the then monopolist Helikopter Service. In 1982 bothStatoil andNorsk Hydro signed three-year contracts with a combined value of 300 million kroner to fly to installations in theNorwegian Sea off Northern Norway. For these routes, sixAerospatiale AS 332L Super Pumas were procured between 1983 and 1985. The airline was also awarded a contract withSaga Petroleum to operate offshore flights inBenin.[1] By 1984 the airline reach a revenue of 170 million kroner, with 110 employees, after it started flights toTrænabanken andTromsøflaket, the latter based out ofTromsø Airport. It also established a base atBergen Airport, Flesland where Statoil used Lufttransport for some flights toStatfjord.[3]
A fall in the oil price had resulted in a reduced willingness for the oil companies to pay higher prices to Lufttransport in order to entice competition The three-year contract with Statoil and Norsk Hydro was not extended, leaving the company in financial dire straits. Lufttransport therefore contacted Helikopter Service, resulting in a merger from 1 January 1987. Helikopter Service took over all offshore operations, while land-based services continued in the subsidiary Lufttransport.[3]
Helikopter Service bought another mid-sized helicopter and fixed-wing operator, theÅlesund-basedMørefly, in 1992. Also there the mother company took over all offshore operations and left only the land-based flights for Mørefly. Due to the similarities in profile, Mørefly and Lufttransport were merged in 1995. Tromsø was selected as the new company's head office and it also retained the name Lufttransport. However, it retained the air operator's certificate and organization number of Mørefly, which had been founded in 1955.[4]
At the time of the merger, Mørefly was one of the two large air ambulance operators in Norway, along withNorsk Luftambulanse. In addition to its main base atÅlesund Airport, Vigra, there were fixed-wing air ambulance bases atBrønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy;Bodø Airport;Tromsø Airport;Alta Airport; andKirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen,[5] served by six Beechcraft King Air.[6] A Dauphin 2 was flown out ofÅlesund Heliport, Central Hospital. It also held a contract with theNorwegian Coast Guard to flymaritime surveillance over the North Sea.[7]
Helikopter Service sold Lufttransport in 2000 toNorwegian Air Shuttle, at the time a regional airline. It sold Lufttransport and the Swedish operatorHeliflyg in 2005 toNorsk Helikopter, Helikopter Service's main competitor. It sold Lufttransport to Knut Axel Ugland Holding three years later, in a deal which saw Ugland sell its 51 percent of Norsk Helikopter to theBristow Group.[8]
The company returned to offshore flights in 2004, when it won a two-year contract to fly all services in the Norwegian sector forTeekay, laterTeekay Petrojarl. The contract has been renewed numerous times.[9]
Lufttransport commenced scheduled passenger services on the route fromBodø Airport toVærøy Heliport in 2005. It won thepublic service obligation tender, valid from 1 August 2005, ahead of Helikopter Service with a bid of NOK 56 million.[10] Lufttransport renewed the contract for a new three years starting 1 August 2008, after they were the only bidder in the tender. They received NOK 102 million for three years.[11] During this period betternavigational aids were installed, allowing helicopters to operate during twice per day also during the dark period of the year. Lufttransport was the only bidder for the following contract, which lasts three years from 1 August 2011. The subsidies for this period are NOK 96 million.[12]
The company started operations on Svalbard in 1978, transporting crew from the new international airport atLongyearbyen to the mines atSvea andNy-Ålesund. From 1994 the airline has operated Dornier 228 aircraft at Svalbard. Since 2002 the company has co-operated with the shipping pilot service in Bergen, flying pilots out to vessels at sea.
In 2000 its ownerCHC Helikopter Service, part ofCHC Helicopter, sold Lufttransport toNorwegian Air Shuttle. In 2005 Norwegian sold Lufttransport and the SwedishHeliflyg toNorsk Helikopter. As part of a restructuring of its operations, Norsk Helikopter (now fully owned byBristow Group) sold Lufttransport in its entirety toKnut Axel Ugland Holding in October 2008.[13]
In Norway Lufttransport has Beech King Air B200 ambulance planes stationed at
It also has helicopter bases at
The airline also has twoDornier 228 aircraft stationed atSvalbard Airport, Longyear that fly regular charter flights toNy-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben andSvea Airport for the mining companyStore Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani and the company in charge of the research village ofNy-Ålesund,Kings Bay. One of the Dornier aircraft also carries out surveillance for the Norwegian Coast Guard, primarily checking fishing boats in theBarents Sea. Lufttransport flies about 400 hours per year for the Coast Guard.
From August 29, 2019, one of the aircraft was fitted with high-resolution sensors and advanced communication equipment provided byNORCE research centre making it the first passenger aircraft equipped forenvironmental monitoring.[14]
Two Agusta helicopters based atBergen Airport, Flesland were used to transport ship pilots until 1 July 2017, at which time the contract was won by another Norwegian company, Airlift AS. Ships exceeding 30 000gross tons with petroleum products are required to have a pilot onboard while navigating into the petroleum refineries ofKårstø,Mongstad andSture. In addition the company has a contract to fly crew toTeekay Petrojarl's ships in theNorth Sea
Lufttransport flies thepublic service obligation betweenBodø Airport andVærøy Heliport with two daily round trips (one trip on Saturdays and Sundays) with anAgusta Bell AB139.
As of August 2017 the Lufttransport fleet includes:[15]
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