Widerøe's Flyveselskap

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Widerøe's Flyveselskap ASA
Logo of Widerøe's Flyveselskap
Embraer 190-E2 from Widerøe
IATA code : WF
ICAO code : WIF
Call sign : WIDEROE
Founding: 1934
Seat: Bodø , NorwayNorwayNorway 
Home airport : Bodø Airport
Company form: ASA
IATA prefix code : 701
Management: Lars Kobberstad ( CEO )
Frequent Flyer Program : EuroBonus
Fleet size: 46
Aims: National and international
Website: www.wideroe.no

Widerøe's Flyveselskap ( Widerøe on the outside ) is a Norwegian regional airline based in Bodø and based at Bodø Airport .

history

Former Widerøe logo
Stinson Reliant of the Widerøe in 1936

Foundation and first years

Widerøe's Flyveselskap was founded on February 19, 1934 by Viggo Widerøe as Widerøe's Flying Company . He received state permission to set up a liner service between Oslo , Kristiansand , Stavanger and Haugesund . The state airline Det Norske Luftfartselskap (DNL) successfully protested against this . Widerøe moved its headquarters to Kirkenes . The Kirkenes service ended with the invasion of German troops and Viggo Widerøe was interned by the German occupiers between 1940 and 1943.

Development after the Second World War

de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 of the Widerøe in 1970

After the end of the war, Widerøe founded a flight school in 1946 , then an air taxi and photo flying company . In 1950 Widerøe bought Polarfly AS from Narvik with its routes to Bodø and Svolvær . SAS Scandinavian Airlines offered Widerøe further routes as a subcontractor. This expanded the network to Harstad , Tromsø , Alta and Hammerfest . Charter flights were also carried out until 1965.

The Norwegian parliament decided to build numerous small airports in the north of the country with a standard runway size of 840 m × 30 m, thereby establishing the so-called “short runway network”. Widerøe was able to serve these airfields with short take-off machines of the type de Havilland Canada DHC-6 , later DHC-7 . This almost created a monopoly for the company, as the major airlines could not use the short runways. The photo flight sector had made such a good name for itself that foreign contracts were signed. After the merger with a surveying company, the division became Norway's largest land surveying company under the name Fjellanger Widerøe SA . Another ten short-run airports were built. In 1975 Widerøe already had 34 destination airports.

More recent history since 1990

de Havilland Canada DHC-7 of the Widerøe in 1993

In 1994 Widerøe expanded the route network to Copenhagen, the Shetland Islands and later to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Stockholm and Berlin. Today it maintains feeder services for SAS Scandinavian Airlines , of which it was a wholly-owned subsidiary until 2013, to their hubs in Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. In 2004 the company achieved a turnover of around two billion Norwegian kroner with around 1.8 million passengers. The profit expectations were around 100 million crowns. The average utilization of the machines was 51.9%.

In the summer of 2013, the SAS Group sold 80 percent of its shares in Widerøe for around 235 million euros to a Norwegian investor consortium in which, among others, the Havila Group is involved through its subsidiary Fjord1 . On June 30, 2016, the SAS Group also sold the remaining 20 percent to the Norwegian investor consortium.

Destinations

Widerøe serves a dense network of destinations within Norway and also flies to cities in Scandinavia , the United Kingdom and Germany . In Germany, Hamburg and Munich are served three times a week.

fleet

Current fleet

De Havilland DHC-8-100 of the Widerøe
Douglas DC-3 from Widerøe

As of March 2020, the Widerøe fleet consists of 46 aircraft with an average age of 20.7 years:

Aircraft type number ordered Remarks Seats
De Havilland DHC-8-100 23 37 or 39
De Havilland DHC-8-200 3 37 or 39
De Havilland DHC-8-300 7th 50
De Havilland DHC-8-400 10 78
Embraer 190-E2 3 + 12 options; Widerøe is the first customer of the E190-E2; first delivery on April 5, 2018 114
total 46

Former aircraft types

Before that, Widerøe used the following types of aircraft:

Incidents

Widerøe recorded eight total aircraft losses in its history. In four of them, a total of 62 people were killed.

  • On May 6, 1988, a de Havilland Canada DHC-7 (LN-WFN) coming from Namsos flew 8 km from Brønnøysund Airport on approach to Mount Torghatten . It had flown in with low clouds at too low an altitude. All 36 people on board were killed - this was the worst accident with this aircraft type until March 2020.
  • On April 12, 1990, a DHC-6-300 of the Widerøe (LN-BNS) was caught in extreme turbulence shortly after take-off on its flight from Værøy to Bodø . The horizontal stabilizer or the elevator broke off and the uncontrollable machine crashed. All five people on board were killed. Any other similar incidents at the airport of Værøy this was closed and by a Heliport replaced (see also Widerøe Flight 839 ) .
  • On October 27, 1993, a DHC-6-300 (LN-BNM) crashed while approaching Namsos airport . The plane that started in Trondheim collided with the ground just under six kilometers from the destination airport. All six people on board were killed.

See also

Web links

Commons : Widerøe  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ch-aviation - SAS offloads 80% in Widerøe to Norwegian investors for € 235million (English), accessed on May 6, 2013
  2. SAS SELLS MINORITY HOLDING IN WIDERØE. In: SAS Group. June 30, 2016, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  3. wideroe.no - Destinations and airports , accessed October 19, 2018
  4. ^ Widerøe Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. Retrieved March 5, 2020 .
  5. Embraer - Orderbook , accessed on June 28, 2017
  6. wideroe.no - About the company , accessed on June 28, 2017
  7. wideroe.no - Widerøe anskaffer nye og miljøvennlige regional jetfly, January 16, 2017 (Norwegian), accessed on June 29, 2017
  8. aero.de - First Embraer 190-E2 delivered (German), accessed on April 5, 2018
  9. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1967–2007.
  10. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Sutton, UK, 2008-2013.
  11. Accident statistics from Widerøes Flyveselskap , Aviation Safety Network , accessed on April 2, 2020.
  12. ^ Accident report DHC-6 LN-BNK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 21, 2019.
  13. ^ Accident report DHC-7 LN-WFN , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 21, 2019.
  14. ^ Accident report DHC-6 LN-BNS , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on April 2, 2020.
  15. ^ Accident report DHC-6 LN-BNM , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 21, 2019.