On October 8, 1998, Oslo Airport at Gardermoen (OSL) became Norway's new main airport, replacing Oslo Fornebu Airport. King Harald officially opened the new facility, which took over the capital's main airport role after Fornebu closed the previous evening.
Fornebu had opened on June 1, 1939. German forces took over the airport during World War II, and civilian aviation resumed in 1946. Its runways and terminal were expanded over the following decades, but the airport's confined site limited its ability to accommodate growing traffic.
Gardermoen's aviation history stretched back much further than the 1998 opening. Norway's National Archives records its first use as an air station in 1912. German forces developed it with two crossing runways during World War II. It later served as a reserve and training airport, and SAS (SK) began a Gardermoen–New York service in 1961. Much of Fornebu's charter traffic moved there in 1972.
Choosing Gardermoen
The search for a replacement airport took years. In 1988, Norway's parliament chose Hurum, but that plan was abandoned after meteorological studies identified frequent fog. Parliament approved the development of Gardermoen on October 8, 1992. Fornebu's space constraints had prevented expansion in step with traffic growth, according to the National Archives.
The new airport opened in stages. A Norwegian Transport Ministry report on the start of operations records that the new eastern runway and control tower entered use on January 1, 1998. The new terminal began handling charter traffic on July 1, before opening to all traffic on October 8.
The Overnight Move
Fornebu's final scheduled departure left on the evening of October 7, 1998. Equipment had been moved to Gardermoen during the preceding week, with the remaining equipment transported overnight for the changeover the next morning.
Avinor identifies a Color Air (CL) flight as the first departure on opening day. Gardermoen was already an operating airfield; October 8 marked its formal opening as Norway's new main airport.
The move also changed winter operations. The ministry's report describes two runways that could operate independently: one could remain open while the other was cleared of snow. At Fornebu, only one runway was available to larger aircraft, so snow clearing required that traffic to stop.
Featured image: Oslo Airport at dusk, April 19, 2017 (file photo), licensed under CC BY 3.0.
Featured image: Oslo Airport at dusk, April 19, 2017 (file photo). Photo: Avinor Oslo lufthavn/Espen Solli, CC BY 3.0.
