Avinor is planning building a new primary airport to serve Lofoten and possibly also Vesterålen.

The region wants to be more attractive on the conference market which would create more job opportunities outside the tourist season, and there is a need to adopt airports to modern aircraft types.

[4] Gimsøy was the most favoured alternative since Stokmarknes needs ferry access if its airport is replaced, or a future tunnel which seems to expensive, and because Hadselsanden is fairly distant from Leknes (113 kilometers (70 mi)).

However weather recordings has shown that Gimsøy, located at the big ocean, is too windy and foggy for an airport.

[6] There is since 2023 an ongoing project to reduce the road travel time to Evenes by 30 minutes to well below 2 hours, finished 2028.