Widerøe

Widerøe's Flyveselskap ASA is a scheduled and charter passenger and cargo [airline]] based in Bodo, Norway. It operates the largest fleet of Dash 8 aircraft in Europe. Its main base is Bodo Airport (BOO), with another base at Sandefjord Airport (TRF). The majority of the airline's operations are under contract from the Norwegian government flying subsidised services to commercially unviable destinations.

Code Data

• IATA Code: WF
• ICAO Code: WIF
• Callsign: Wideroe

History

The airline was established and started operations on 19 February 1934. It was founded by Viggo Wideroe and four friends and provided air taxi and ambulance flights, flight training and aerial photography until after the Second World War, when it began scheduled seaplane services.

The company has served the STOL network in Norway since 1968, initially with a fleet of 19 seat De Havilland Twin Otters, later with De Havilland (now Bombardier) Dash 7, and now with larger aircraft. It was reorganised in 1970 to play a more leading role in the development of scheduled air services in rural districts, and development into a pure scheduled airline was completed by an injection of new capital. In November 1997 SAS purchased 29% of Wideroe's shares, since increased to 99.6%.

In 2002, the company served 32 domestic and 6 international destinations, had 1,200 employees, 90,000 landings and 1.5 million passengers.

Services

Wideroe operates the following services (at January 2005):

• Domestic scheduled services: Bronnoysund, Forde, Hammerfest, Alta, Andenes, Batsfjord, Bergen, Berlevag, Bodo, Harstad-Narvik, Hasvik, Honningsvag, Kirkenes, Lakselv, Leknes, Mehamn, Mo I Rana, Mosjoen, Namsos, Orsta-Volda, Oslo, Roervik, Roros, Sandane, Sandnessjoen, Sogndal, Sorkjosen, Stavanger, Stokmarknes, Svolvaer, Tromso, Trondheim, Vadso and Vardoe.
• International scheduled services: Aberdeen, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Newcastle and Stockholm.

Fleet

The Wideroe fleet consists of the following aircraft (at January 2005):

• 17 Bombardier Dash 8 Q100
• 9 Bombardier Dash 8 Q300
• 3 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400

External links

• Wideroe
• Wideroe Passenger Opinions
• Scanair on Widerøe
• Widerøe Aircraft