In addition to Norwegian, SAS and Wizz Air, the airlines airBaltic, Finnair and KLM operates international routes out of Trondheim.

[7] Combining the functions as an international, domestic and regional airport, it is located 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) east of Trondheim.

The Air Force has six stands for military freight planes up to the size of a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy (code F), although one is permanently used for deicing.

The main radar, a combined primary and secondary, is placed at Vennafjell, 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) south of the airport.

Værnes also serves as a storage base for the United States Armed Forces as part of the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway.

It was part of the plan to establish the Norwegian Army Air Service, for which Værnes was chosen as the initial station for Central Norway.

By 1922, the grass field serving as runway has become insufficient for newer planes, both in terms of length and level, but an extension was not performed until 1925.

[23] After the war ended, the airport was initial taken over by the Royal Air Force, but they soon withdrew leaving the Norwegian military in charge.

However, they chose to operate their de Havilland Herons from Trondheim Airport, Lade, just a few kilometers outside of the city center, in days with clear weather.

The commission was unanimous in recommending Værnes, highlighting that the airport was of a sufficient size to handle all civilian and military needs in the foreseeable future, and emphasized the proximity to the railway and highway.

The east–west runway was to be extended to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft); initial proposals had called for the extension to occur on the east side, but the Ministry of Defence instead wanted the expansion of the fjord-side to reduce expropriation costs.

This called for a complex civil engineering program, as the railway and highway would have to pass under the runway in tunnels and an artificial island would have to be built in the fjord and the mouth of the Stjørdal River be diverted.

[34] In 1957, parliament started a new process to consider Heimdal as the primary airport, in part because the airlines and the Civil Aviation Administration stated that they felt Værnes was insufficient.

[36] Parliament passed legislation for the construction of a new 2,000-square-metre (22,000 sq ft) terminal in 1964, which opened on 5 December 1965. the following year, Widerøe started a seaplane route from Værnes to Namsos, Rørvik, Brønnøysund, Sandnessjøen, Mo i Rana and Bodø.

A new taxiway, which extended the full length of the runway, was opened in 1999, after more artificial land has been created and a second tunnel built for the highway and railway.

[49] Color Air filed for bankruptcy on 27 September 1999,[50] ending a price war which had cost the airlines NOK 3 billion.

Of Braathens' services, 14 were to Oslo, 15 to cities on the West Coast (of which four were operated by Norwegian Air Shuttle) and four were to Bodø, Harstad/Narvik and Tromsø.

[54] From 1 September 2002, Norwegian Air Shuttle converted from a regional airline to a low-cost carrier and started competing on the route to Oslo.

The terminal received a new border control for flights to countries outside the Schengen Area and a duty-free store for both departing and arriving passengers.

[18] From 7 January 2006, Norwegian started a seasonal winter service to Salzburg, Austria;[61] from 7 May 2006, they introduced one weekly service to Nice, France;[62] On 1 April 2008, they started two weekly round trips to Warsaw, Poland;[63] and from 1 June 2008, Norwegian introduced one daily evening flight to Bodø and Tromsø.

[70] From 10 June to 30 August 2010, Icelandair operated two weekly services to their hub Keflavík International Airport using Boeing 757 aircraft.

[citation needed] In a master plan from 2006, Avinor has identified several key development issues to increase the capacity of the airport.

For Terminal A, the plans call to keep the existing structure, and gradually expand it westwards, eventually passing over the railway on a culvert.

This will result in insufficient space for general aviation at its current location, and this has been proposed moved eastwards past the military installations.

[74] The military has suggested to fill in a large section of the river delta at the west end of the runway, and move some of the cargo and helicopter operations there, but environmental concerns have been raised by among others Avinor.

The masses used for this are coming from the construction of the nearby Gevingåsen Tunnel on the Nordland Line, which will help shorten the travel time of the airport rail link to Trondheim and increase frequency.

The main route is to its hub at Oslo; additional services are operated to Bergen, Bodø, Stavanger and Tromsø, all with Airbus A320, Embraer E195 and CRJ900 aircraft.

For international flights, the catchment area is slightly larger, and includes part of Nordmøre, Helgeland, and Jämtland in Sweden.

[125] The Trøndelag Commuter Rail offers hourly services in each direction: northbound to Steinkjer and southbound to Trondheim and Lerkendal.

Nettbuss operates city and regional buses to Selbu and Oppdal from the bus stop at Hell Center—five minutes walk from the airport.