Departure
96%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Stavanger Airport, Sola (ENZV) is Norway's oldest airport, serving the Stavanger-Sandnes region on the country's southwestern coast as both a major commercial gateway and the principal hub for North Sea offshore helicopter operations. Its two crossing hard-surfaced runways and full ATC service make it a straightforward but busy destination for visiting VFR and IFR traffic alike.
Stavanger Airport, Sola lies on the coast of Rogaland county, southwest of the city of Stavanger, and is operated by Avinor. It is Norway's oldest airport and one of its busiest, combining scheduled airline traffic with a significant offshore helicopter operation supporting North Sea oil installations, alongside a Royal Norwegian Air Force search and rescue helicopter presence at the adjoining Sola Air Station. For a simulator pilot the field offers an interesting mix of crossing runways, mixed fixed-wing and rotary traffic, and a genuinely historic setting dating back to the 1930s.
Sola is located in Sola Municipality, about 6 nautical miles (11 km) southwest of the centre of Stavanger, and serves the combined Stavanger-Sola-Sandnes conurbation. The airport sits on the coast and is a controlled aerodrome with its own Tower and Approach service.
The airport has two crossing hard-surfaced, lit runways. The main runway is aligned 18/36, with runway 18 measuring 8,676 ft and runway 36 measuring 8,184 ft; both ends are equipped with ILS. The secondary runway is aligned 10/28, with runway 28 measuring 7,529 ft and runway 10 measuring 7,516 ft, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 16 ft.
Sola Tower operates on 118.35 MHz, with Sola Ground on 121.75 MHz for taxi instructions. Sola Approach controls arriving and departing traffic on 119.6 MHz, with a separate arrival frequency of 118.5 MHz. ATIS broadcasts are available on 126 MHz. The airport is equipped with ILS on runway 18/36.
Stavanger Airport, Sola was opened by King Haakon VII on 29 May 1937, making it Norway's oldest airport, and it was reportedly only the second airport in Europe to have a concrete runway. It was originally intended that Stavanger's airport be built at Forus instead, but after the Second World War the Royal Norwegian Air Force opted to continue using Sola rather than develop the Forus site, which instead became a separate heliport and later a military air station before its eventual closure. During the German occupation, Sola was seized by Luftwaffe paratroopers on 9 April 1940 and used as a base for operations connected with the Battle of Britain, while the nearby Forus site was developed as a satellite airfield under the Festung Norwegen defensive scheme. After the war, Det Norske Luftfartsselskap (later Scandinavian Airlines System) and, from 1946, Braathens SAFE began scheduled services from Sola, with Braathens SAFE gaining concessions for domestic routes including Oslo-Stavanger and the coastal route to Tromsø in 1952. Offshore helicopter flights supporting North Sea oil platforms began in 1966, initially operating from the former Forus airfield rather than Sola; this arrangement became increasingly impractical as the surrounding area developed, and in 1989 helicopter operations were transferred to a new purpose-built terminal, hangar and maintenance centre at Sola, coinciding with the closure of Forus. British Airways predecessors began flying to Sola after the Second World War, with regular jet services to London Heathrow starting in 1980.
Stavanger Airport, Sola remains Norway's third-busiest airport, handling both scheduled airline services and a substantial offshore helicopter operation to North Sea installations, with helicopter traffic mainly using runway 10/28. The Royal Norwegian Air Force continues to operate search and rescue helicopters from the adjoining Sola Air Station. An aeronautical museum, Flyhistorisk Museum, Sola, is located in the vicinity of the airport.
