Departure
95%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ålesund Airport, Vigra sits on the island of Vigra in Giske Municipality, serving the coastal town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. It is Avinor's principal airport for the region, offering a single instrument-equipped runway with ILS on one direction, making it a useful and well-appointed VFR or IFR destination on Norway's western coast.
Ålesund Airport, Vigra is an international airport operated by Avinor on the island of Vigra, serving the town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county. It handles scheduled domestic and international services and has a long history tied to the development of civil aviation on Norway's west coast, making it an interesting destination for simulator pilots wanting a coastal Norwegian airfield with a full instrument approach.
The airport lies on the island of Vigra within Giske Municipality, off the coast near Ålesund. As a controlled aerodrome with an operating tower, it sits within its own control zone; pilots planning a visit should expect to work with air traffic control rather than operate as an uncontrolled field.
Ålesund Airport, Vigra has a single physical runway orientated 06/24. Runway 06 is 7,061 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 24 is 6,811 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, and is equipped with an ILS approach. Field elevation is 39 feet.
The airport is served by an ATIS on 128.65 MHz and a tower frequency of 119.85 MHz. An ILS is available on runway 24 for instrument approaches.
Plans for scheduled air services to Ålesund date back to 1919, when a government commission proposed a coastal seaplane route from Stavanger to Trondheim, and the first landing at Ålesund took place on 27 May 1920. The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service established a seaplane base near the town at Skutvika in 1929, moving it the following year to found Ålesund Airport, Sørneset, a water aerodrome that remained in use, including under Luftwaffe occupation during the Second World War, until 1979. The idea of a land airport for the region grew from a 1933 speech by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, who proposed either Vigra or the Moa area near Spjelkavik; Vigra was favoured by the government and included in a 1935 national plan for primary airports. During the German occupation, the Luftwaffe considered Moa before instead beginning an airfield on the nearby island of Gossa, which was never completed by the end of the war. After the war a county commission initially favoured completing Gossa, but Ålesund community leaders lobbied strongly for Vigra, and in 1951 calculations by two students suggested Vigra would be the cheaper option; nonetheless Parliament chose Gossa in 1952. Funding difficulties and a rival scheme by Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap to operate short-field Twin Pioneer aircraft from a short strip at Vigra led the Civil Airport Administration to place Gossa's funding on hold, and Ålesund Municipality pushed instead for a 1,000-metre runway at Vigra capable of handling the de Havilland Heron. Construction began on 9 January 1957, and after the collapse of plans to operate Twin Pioneers and Herons in winter, the municipality secured status for Vigra as a primary airport, with Parliament approving funding for air traffic control and operations. The airport was built with a 1,600 by 40 metre runway and taxiway by contractors Veibygg, Fredrikstad Granittkompani and Korsbrekke og Lorck, along with an 820 square metre terminal and three radio beacons, and opened on 7 June 1958 with Braathens SAFE operating all scheduled flights. Widerøe added regional services from 1971 to 1993, and Braathens continued to dominate operations until 1998. International flights began in 1977, and a new terminal opened in 1986. The Norwegian Air Ambulance service has operated from the airport since 1988, and between 1995 and 1998 the Royal Norwegian Air Force's 330 Squadron kept a Westland Sea King detachment at Vigra for search and rescue duties. Color Air and SAS both began flying to Ålesund in 1998; Color Air later closed and SAS went on to acquire Braathens. Norwegian Air Shuttle entered the market in 2004 and again in 2008, and the terminal was expanded in 2007 as international destinations grew.
Ålesund Airport, Vigra remains an active international airport operated by Avinor, with scheduled domestic services to Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim provided by Scandinavian Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe, and international scheduled services operated by KLM Cityhopper, Norwegian, SAS and Wizz Air. The Norwegian Air Ambulance service continues to be based at the airport.
