Press Release

No 37/1999
Date 31 March 1999

Tender on regional air services in Norway

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 2000 – 31 March 2003.

- Serving 26 regional airports and a total of about one million passengers a year, this is one of the most comprehensive tender invitations within European civil aviation, says Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Dag Jostein Fjærvoll.

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. For the three regional routes Vadsø – Tromsø, Hammerfest – Tromsø and Stokmarknes – Bodø, programmes for operation on a commercial basis have already been presented.

Routes and route areas

The invitation to tender includes 12 route areas, which are divided into 19 tenders. Five route areas comprise one single tender and the remaining route areas two tenders each. When a route area comprises two tenders, the carriers may combine them when submitting tenders.

The route areas are:

Route area 1

Routes between Vadsø, Båtsfjord, Berlevåg, Mehamn, Honningsvåg and Hammerfest, as well as between these airports and Kirkenes and Alta

Hasvik – Tromsø, Hasvik – Hammerfest, Sørkjosen – Tromsø

Route area 2

Vardø – Kirkenes

Route area 3

Lakselv – Tromsø

Route area 4

Andenes – Bodø, Andenes – Tromsø

Route area 5

Svolvær – Bodø

Leknes – Bodø

Route area 6

Røst – Bodø

Route area 7

Narvik (Framnes) – Bodø

Route area 8

Brønnøysund – Bodø, Brønnøysund – Trondheim

Sandnessjøen – Bodø, Sandnessjøen – Trondheim

Route area 9

Mo i Rana – Bodø, Mo i Rana – Trondheim, Mosjøen – Bodø, Mosjøen – Trondheim

Namsos – Trondheim, Rørvik – Trondheim

Route area 10

Florø – Oslo

Florø – Bergen

Route area 11

Førde – Oslo

Førde – Bergen

Route area 12

Sogndal – Oslo, Sogndal – Bergen

Sandane – Oslo, Sandane – Bergen, Ørsta-Volda – Oslo, Ørsta-Volda - Bergen

The deadline for submitting tenders is 25 June 1999. The awards will be made on 25 August 1999 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 is available on Internet ( linkdoc028005-990059#dochttp://odin.dep.no/sd/publ/anbud/).

It may also, on request, be obtained directly from the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, Civil Aviation Section, Telephone

+47 22 24 82 41.