Widerøe started serving the airport as part of the regional network in 1972, with SAS withdrawing four years later.

Andøya Air Station was built with North Atlantic Treaty Organization funds as a combined Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic project as a base for maritime surveillance.

Construction started in 1952 and all installations not required to be physically located at the air station were placed at Skarsteindalen, 12 kilometers (7 mi) away.

[7] Parliament decided in 1982 that Andenes would be the base for operating helicopters offshore to oil installations off Troms.

[8] The routes were made subject to public service obligations with the Ministry of Transport and Communications from 1 April 1997.

However, they decided to terminate their operations with the Fokker 50, and thus also serving Andenes, to concentrate their efforts on becoming a low-cost carrier.

The state paid NOK 68 million for 27 months, up 25 percent from the Norwegian bid, including a service from Tromsø to Lakselv Airport, Banak.

[16] Norwegian started irregular scheduled flights to Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, using the Boeing 737-800 from June 2012.

[19] Widerøe serves Andenes with Dash 8 aircraft on public service obligations with the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

[2] All four people on board were killed when a private Cessna 172 crashed west of the airport just after take-off on 31 July 1988.

The accident took place 4.5 kilometers (2.8 mi) west of the airport in a cliff, 250 meters (820 ft) altitude.