Norsk Air
The company was established as a sole proprietorship by Øyvind Skaunfelt as Vestfoldfly in 1961, after purchasing Thor Solberg's aviation school at Tønsberg Airport, Jarlsberg.
The company turned to regular charter services to Bergen and Stavanger in the 1980s, and from 1984 served the routes with scheduled flights, using seven-passenger Beechcraft 200 King Air.
It introduced several new routes, including international flights to Denmark and the United Kingdom, and took the name Norsk Air.
The company bought Norving's Skien Airport, Geiteryggen division in 1987 and started operations from a second base.
Two years earlier, Sandefjord Airport, Torp had opened a civilian sector and Skaunfelt decided to establish his company there.
The reason was that the Skien-based Fjellfly held the concession for the routes from Oslo to Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Skien.
Skaunfelt eventually split his activity in two, demerging the aviation school and renaming it Den Norske Luftfartsskole, which remained in operation until 1999.
The company followed up with purchasing a ten-seat Cessna Citation business jet that they offered in the charter market.
[4] In 1984, Norsk Flytjenesete started negotiations with the Sandefjord-based conglomerate Kosmos, who were seeking to invest in a local airline.
Norsk Flytjeneste was at the time not making money on its routes, but Kosmos was willing to carry the loss as an investment.
Kjell Riege from Kosmos was appointed managing director while Tor Lundstrøm continued as chief pilot.
Applications were made for concessions from Sandefjord to Gothenburg in Sweden, and from Oslo via Hamar and Røros to Trondheim.
Norsk Flytjeneste also needed larger aircraft, and the airline evaluated several types, including the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, the 30-passenger Saab 340 and the Fokker F27.
[7] The company also joined the joint venture Commuter Service along with other Norwegian regional airlines, Coast Aero Center, Mørefly and Trønderfly.
[12] Norsk Air started a route from Fagernes Airport, Leirin to Oslo and Bergen on 4 November 1987.
[14] To develop the company, Kosmos and Norsk Air bought the Kirkenes-based airline Norving, which also operated flights from Skien Airport, Geiteryggen—about one hour's drive from Sandefjord—to Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger.
Norving had seven types of aircraft, but was losing large amounts of money, although the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications covered their losses on some state-subsidized regional routes.
Olsen & Co. liked the idea, and bought SAS' and Braathens SAFE's 62.3 percent stake in Widerøe to make the deal possible.
Other possible purchasers who had negotiated with Norsk Air were Sterling Airlines, Partnair and Jan Einar Johansen, former owner of Scandi Line.
On 9 February 1989, Norsk Air's board decided to start the termination process if a sale was not made.
The employees agreed to cut their wages 10 percent and not take sick days during the sales process.
One of the main difficulties in the sales process was that Widerøe could not afford to purchase Norsk Air's hangar at the airport.
[22] After the merger, Widerøe phased out the Brasilias and replaced them with de Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft.
