[5] Under ordinary weather conditions, flights to Fornebu were to, as soon as possible, divert southwards along the Oslo Fjord to avoid noise pollution to residential areas.

It had the responsibility to oversee all air traffic in southeastern Norway, bordering to Dovre in the north, almost to Stavanger in the west, halfway to Stockholm to the east and almost to Denmark in the south.

In addition, Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk offered bus transport to the airport from Asker and Bærum, including Lysaker.

[11] Widerøe had a monopoly on the regional state-supported routes (Brønnøysund, Florø, Førde, Sandane, Sogndal and Ørsta–Volda), and also served Stord and Sandefjord.

[13] However, domestic services were provided by both SAS and Braathens SAFE to Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Bodø, Harstad/Narvik, Tromsø and Longyearbyen.

SAS had international flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Billund, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Helsinki, London-Heathrow, Manchester, Munich, New York, Nice, Paris, Stockholm and Zürich.

Norsk Luftfartsrederi wanted to start seaplane routes from Oslo, and applied to the state to be allowed to lease 2 ha (4.9 acres) of the island Lindøya for 99 years.

The Oslo Port Authority recommended that the application be denied, since it was already in negotiations with the state to purchase the island and seaplane services would interfere with ship traffic.

Kjeller was considered too far away from the city center (about 20 km (12 mi), but along the mainline railway), while travel to Gressholmen needed to be made by ferry.

The politicians also wanted to have a combined land- and seaplane airport, and it had become clear that serving Gressholmen was interfering with ship traffic.

DNL applied for a ten-year concession with a 500,000 kr annual subsidy to fly Oslo–Kristiansand–Amsterdam, continuing northwards to Ålesund.

The following year, parliament passed a long-term plan for construction of airports, which would be located in Oslo, Telemark, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Ålesund and Trondheim.

There was no attempt by the civilian airport authorities to hinder this, such as driving cars onto the runway, although several German aircraft collided with each other during the landing.

A KLM aircraft had a scheduled service that morning, and the captain was ordered to leave the passengers, take the crew and return to Oslo.

On 14 April, the KLM captain was granted permission to fly back to Amsterdam with the crew, albeit without any passengers.

Among politicians and planners, there were two main ideologies: The first, which dominated in political circles, stated that Fornebu's close proximity to the city center was a key to reaching a market in Oslo and for the growth of the airlines.

[30] In 1947, Icelandair started flights to Reykjavík and the same year British European Airways transferred its London route from Gardermoen to Fornebu.

Designed by Odd Nansens Arkitektkontor, it had two stories, one for arrivals and one for departures, and two wings, one for domestic and one for international flights.

[41] The expanded facilities allowed SAS to take into use Sud Aviation Caravelle jets on the Copenhagen routes, although they were also occasionally used to Bodø.

From 1971, charter flights were moved to Gardermoen, although SAS and Braathens SAFE were granted dispensation so they only needed to serve one Oslo airport.

[45] On 1 July 1971, Widerøe also started serving domestic routes to Fornebu, with the opening of a regional airport in Sogn og Fjordane.

During a period of reconstruction at Gardermoen, Trans World Airlines also served Fornebu, and the same year Pan American reintroduced its route to New York.

Two satellites were built for the domestic terminal, one each for Braathens SAFE and SAS, allowing increased waiting area for travelers.

A government report launched in 1970, suggested surveys for five locations: Gardermoen, Hurum, Askim, Nesodden and Ås.

[54] Increased traffic in the mid-1980s changed the politician's interests, and in 1988 Parliament voted to build a new main airport at Hurum, located on the same side of Oslo as Fornebu, but further away.

In 1992, parliament made a final vote that started construction of a new airport at Gardermoen and mandated the closure of Fornebu.

The proposal was to keep part of the runway and terminals and allow aircraft such as the Bombardier Dash 8, Fokker 50 and British Aerospace 146 to use the airport.

[57] Gardermoen allowed this to happen, and from 1 August 1998, Color Air started with flights from Oslo, pressing down prices on domestic routes.

[62] Prior to redevelopment, the airport site was used in the music video for Norwegian artist Hanah's 2001 song "Hollywood Lie".

[65] In December of 2020, the construction of the Fornebu Line started, with large areas of the airport being demolished and excavated, including two hangars which were intact until then.