The airport is located in Alstahaug Municipality in Nordland county, 5.5 nautical miles (10.2 km; 6.3 mi) south west of Sandnessjøen.

The routes to Bodø and Trondheim are operated on public service obligation with the Norwegian Ministry of Transportation and Communication and have stopovers in Brønnøysund, Mo i Rana and Mosjøen.

[6] The first air route along the coast of western Norway between Bergen and Tromsø started June 7, 1935 using seaplanes with three weekly departures and stop overs in Ålesund, Molde, Kristiansund, Trondheim, Brønnøysund, Sandnessjøen, Bodø, Narvik and Harstad.

Det Norske Luftfartsselskap (DNL) had exclusive rights for the route and initially flew it using a Junkers W 34 with floats called "Ternen".

[8] Since the float planes could only be operated during daylight and in good weather, a more stable air transport solution was deemed necessary as the volume of traffic steadily grew.