Airport Guide

History of Bergen Airport

Compared to most other major European air hubs, Bergen Airport is relatively new.

Though plans for an airport at the Flesland site were first put into action in 1937, with the city authorities buying up the necessary land, it was not until 1952 that work began in earnest.

The first civilian flights took off in 1955, although, with much of the work having been funded by NATO, the airport also served military traffic for many years.

With passenger numbers growing steadily over the proceeding decades, a new terminal was opened up in 1998, with a new control tower following three years later.

Meanwhile, plans are currently in place to further extend the facilities at Flesland, with a bigger international flights terminal and better parking on the way.

In recent years, Bergen Airport, Flesland has been named as Europe's best airport and the sixth best in the world by the UK travel magazine Wanderlust.

Travelling to Bergen Airport

The majority of passengers travelling into Bergen city centre upon arriving at the airport do so by bus.

Though there are proposals to extend the Bergen Light Rail network to Flesland, at present, the regular Flybussen services between the terminals and downtown serve as the only public transportation option.

At the same time, passengers are also able to connect to Bergen centre by hire care and by taxi, with customers given a wide range of options at the terminal.

Aside from Bergen, a minibus service connects passengers to Flesland Quay, from where there are regular boats to Stavanger, Stord, Austevoll and Haugesund.

Airlines Flying From Bergen Airport

Norway's second-busiest airport, serving around 4.5 million passengers a year, Bergen welcomes seven airlines offering flights to domestic destinations, as well as 16 carriers offering international flights.

Norwegian Air Shuttle currently boasts the largest presence on the tarmac at Bergen.

As well as offering regular shuttle services to the national capital of Oslo - the seventh busiest air route in Europe - in addition to short hops to Stavanger and Tromso, the carrier also offers international flights to more than a dozen destinations, including Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, London Gatwick, Paris, Rome and Warsaw.

Meanwhile, Scandinavian Airlines offers similar domestic routes, as well as international flights to Alicante, Copenhagen, London and Stockholm, while Norwegian low-cost carrier Wilderoe flies to a number of smaller domestic destinations, as well as to Aberdeen.

Budget airline Eastern Airways connects Bergen to Aberdeen and Newcastle upon Tyne, airBaltic flies to Riga, Flybe to Kirkwall and Sumburgh, while Wizz Air boasts services to Gdansk and Katowice.

Furthermore, national carriers FinnAir, Icelandair and KLM offer flights to Helsinki, Reykjavik and Amsterdam, respectively, while Lufthansa flies to both Frankfurt and Hamburg.

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