The Ministry of Transport and Communications invites all EEA air carriers to tender on scheduled regional air services within Norway, for the period 1 April 2003 – 31 March 2006.

- Serving 29 regional airports and a total of about 1,5 million passengers a year, this is one of the most comprehensive tender invitations within European civil aviation, says Minister of Transport and Communications, Mrs Torild Skogsholm.

The invitation to tender is subject to the provisions of Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2408/92 on access for Community air carriers to intra-Community air services and has been designed to promote competition.

The award will be made to the tender requiring the lowest compensation for each route area. All tenders submitted must fulfil the requirements as set out by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. These include the public service obligations as to frequency, seating capacity, aircraft category and maximum fares.

The invitation to tender shall be valid only to the extent that no air carrier presents a programme to the Ministry of commencing scheduled air services in accordance with the public service obligations and without demanding financial compensation or market protection.

According to a proposal to Parliament of 7 May 2002, the airports Narvik, Vardø and Fagernes are as of 1 April 2003 no longer to be included in the public service obligations. As soon as the Parliament (Storting) has discussed the proposal and adopted possible changes in the airport structure, the tender will be altered accordingly.

Routes and route areas

The invitation to tender includes 15 route areas, which are divided into 20 tenders. Ten route areas comprise one single tender and the remaining route areas two tenders each. When a route area comprises two tenders and for some predefined combinations of routes, the carriers may combine them when submitting tenders.

The route areas are:

Route area 1
1A Routes between Kirkenes, Vadsø, Båtsfjord, Berlevåg, Mehamn, Honningsvåg, Hammerfest og Alta
1B Vardø – Kirkenes

Route area 2
2 Hasvik – Tromsø, Hasvik – Hammerfest, Sørkjosen – Tromsø

Route area 3
3 Lakselv – Tromsø

Route area 4
4 Andenes – Bodø, Andenes – Tromsø

Route area 5
5 Stokmarknes – Bodø

Route area 6
6A Svolvær – Bodø
6B Leknes – Bodø

Route area 7
7 Røst – Bodø

Route area 8
8 Narvik (Framnes) – Bodø

Route area 9
9A Brønnøysund – Bodø, Brønnøysund – Trondheim
9B Sandnessjøen – Bodø, Sandnessjøen – Trondheim

Route area 10
10A Mo i Rana – Bodø, Mo i Rana – Trondheim, Mosjøen – Bodø, Mosjøen – Trondheim
10B Namsos – Trondheim, Rørvik – Trondheim

Route area 11
11 Florø – Oslo, Florø – Bergen

Route area 12
12 Førde – Oslo, Førde – Bergen

Route area 13
13A Sogndal – Oslo, Sogndal – Bergen
13B Sandane – Oslo, Sandane – Bergen, Ørsta - Volda – Oslo, Ørsta - Volda - Bergen

Route area 14
14 Fagernes - Oslo

Route area 15
15 Røros - Oslo

The deadline for submitting tenders is 14 June 2002. The awards will be made on 19 August 2002 at the earliest. All EEA carriers holding a valid operating licence pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers are eligible to tender.

The complete tender file

The tender file may also, on request, be obtained directly from the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, Civil Aviation Section, Telephone +47 22 24 82 41.

Press release in Norwegian