Trans Polar

The airline was headquartered in Oslo, although most of the flights operated out of Copenhagen, Denmark, which was the base of Spies Rejser, Trans Polar's largest customer.

Trans Polar ceased operations on 16 May 1971 when Boeing Commercial Airplanes seized one of their aircraft for failing to pay installments.

[2] Trans Polar International agreed on 25 November 1969 to purchase two Boeing 720 jetliners from Eastern Air Lines.

Tjøntveit stated that the first aircraft would be delivered in May 1970 and followed by a second in December, and that Erik Sandberg would start working as vice president in May.

The airline planned to hire ten pilots and had signed an agreement with Pan Am for ground handling services.

Trans Polar International stated they had made agreements to operate the aircraft transport flights for at least five years.

The original plans called for passenger flights in and around the weekends to the Mediterranean and freight and maintenance the other days, including transporting strawberries from Belgium to Norway.

The arguments were rejected by the CAA, who stated that this was a typical post-excuse and that in case of a courtesy trip the airline should not be collecting the fare in the first place.

[6] The airline started negotiating a charter contract agreement with the Danish tour operator Spies Rejser in July 1970.

[8] Negotiations for the main contract started on 5 September; Scanair had stated a minimum price it could accept, largely based on the fact that Spies did not have an alternative operator.

[4] By late August the debt in the company had been assessed to NOK 30 million,[18] making it the largest bankruptcy till then in Norwegian history.

Tjøntveit stated on 8 September that he intended to sue Boeing for damages from the seizure of the aircraft, but by October no writ of summons had been received by the manufacturer.

[20] Tjøntveit announced in December 1971 that he had established a new airline—Norwegian Overseas Airways (NOA)—which intended to operate freight routes using the Lockheed L-100 Hercules.

[22] The long investigation time span was causing problems for the prosecutors as an increasing number of the counts were meeting their statutes of limitations.

[23] The police announced in September 1973 that they were working on indictments towards Tjøntveit and two of the creditors who placed their representatives on the board after the company was insolvent.

[23] The indictment against the two board members was dropped in 1977, and only a single issue, regarding the disappearance of NOK 1.8 million from the books though a cheque swindle, was retained against Tjøntveit.

Only two of the seven counts were related to Trans Polar; the others regarded other business transaction undertaken by Tjøntveit, such as selling aircraft he did not own.

Tjøntveit was acquitted on 30 November, but the court stated that the police had good reason to investigate the airline and had understanding of the long time frame, pointing to the fact that there were practically no accounts and difficulties interviewing the involved parties.

[28] Tjøntveit followed up by suing the state for NOK 2.8 million in damages, but the case was dismissed by Oslo District Court in September 1979.