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Mehamn Airport

Coordinates:71°01′44″N027°49′35″E/ 71.02889°N 27.82639°E/71.02889; 27.82639
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Mehamn Airport

Mehamn lufthavn
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAvinor
ServesMehamn,Finnmark,Norway
ElevationAMSL12 m / 39 ft
Coordinates71°01′44″N027°49′35″E/ 71.02889°N 27.82639°E/71.02889; 27.82639
Websiteavinor.no
Map
MEH is located in Norway
MEH
MEH
Location within Norway
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17/35 880 2,887 Asphalt
Statistics (2012)
Passengers14,392
Aircraft movements2,789
Cargo (tonnes)4
Source:[1][2]

Mehamn Airport(Norwegian:Mehamn lufthavn;IATA:MEH,ICAO:ENMH) is aregional airportserving the village ofMehamninGamvik MunicipalityinFinnmarkcounty,Norway.It also serves the villagesKjøllefjordand Gamvik. The airport is 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) outside of the village of Mehamn and is owned and operated by the state-ownedAvinor.The tower is remotely controlled from Bodø.[3]

The asphaltrunwayis 880 meters (2,890 ft). Services are operated byWiderøeusingDash 8-100aircraft which connect to other communities inFinnmark,and the city ofTromsø.The routes are subsidized by theMinistry of Transport and Communicationsthroughpublic service obligations.

Both the villages ofGamvikandKjøllefjordwere considered as alternative locations for the airport, and both received smaller airfields before Mehamn Airport opened in 1974. Widerøe operatedde Havilland Canada Twin Ottersuntil they were replaced with the Dash 8 in 1995. The airport served 14,392 passengers in 2014 and is the northernmost airport inEuropeexceptSvalbard.

History

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Plans for an airport onNordkinnhalvøyawere first articulated by a committee appointed by theFinnmark County Municipality.Their 1966 report recommended that six regional airports be built in Finnmark, which included Mehamn andKjøllefjordas a possible site. Simultaneously the national government starting on planning a national network of regional airports.[4]The Civil Aviation Administration (later renamed Avinor) looked into suitable sites at Mehamn, Kjøllefjord, and Gamvik.[5]The government prioritized construction in Finnmark last, so the regional airline Norving took initiative to build smaller airfields in selected communities.[4]They took contact with bothLebesby Municipalityand Gamvik Municipality to initiate construction.[6]

Landside part of the terminal

Initially the CAA supported Gamvik as a location for a regional airport, in part because of the lower investment costs. The municipal council in Gamvik instead chose the municipal center of Mehamn, 20 kilometers (12 mi) from Gamvik village. The Gamvik chapter of theNorwegian Red Cross Search and Rescue Corpsstarted fund-raising for Gamvik village to build its own airport. It applied to the municipality, but no public funds were granted.Gamvik Airportopened on 29 August.[7]Also at Kjøllefjord, 30 kilometers (19 mi) from Mehamn, locals decided to build their own airport.Kjøllefjord Airportopened in 1974, but because of the opening of Mehamn Airport it never saw any regular traffic.[8]The use of the airports at Kjøllefjord and Gamvik fell out regular use from 1974 and were soon abandoned.[9][8]

Simultaneously as Mehamn was awarded an airport,Parliamentvoted to build a new road,National Road 888,which would better winter transport between the villages of Kjøllefjord, Mehamn and Gamvik, allow Mehamn Airport to efficiently serve the entire peninsula.[10]Construction was subcontracted toVeidekke.From they started construction in late 1973; it took 39 days from start until the first aircraft landed.[11]Mehamn airport opened on 1 August 1974, at the same time asSørkjosen Airport,Hammerfest Airport,Berlevåg AirportandVadsø Airport.[10]Because of late payment the airport remained owned by Veidekke until 1976.[11]Both Widerøe and Norving applied to operate the Finnmark route, which would connect the airports together and to the primary airports in Finnmark andTromsø Airport.Norving planned to operate with theirBritten-Norman IslandersandBritten-Norman Trislanders.The government opted to selected Widerøe and their Twin Otters, citing the need for a single operator for all subsidized regional routes in the country.[12]

Widerøe operated Twin Otters on the route until 1995, when the Dash 8 was introduced.[10]The state and the Civil Aviation Administration took over ownership and operations of the airport from 1 January 1997, in exchange for 3.9 millionkrbeing paid to Gamvik Municipality.[13]Flights to Mehman have been subject to public service obligations since 1 April 1997.[14]Airport securitywas introduced on 1 January 2005.[15]The passenger terminal building has been expanded several times and a garage was built in 2005.[10]The runway was expanded and a new lighting system was installed in 2011.[11]

Future

[edit]

Avinor sees a problem in getting new aircraft of the size of the Dash 8-100 (39 seats) which can use the 800 meter runways, so they plan to use smaller planes with 19 seats (which is the size of the Twin Otter) for these small airports when the Dash 8-100 retire before 2030.

Facilities

[edit]

The Avinor-owned airport has an integratedcontrol towerand terminal capable of handling seventy passengers per hour.[16]Mehamn has a 880-by-30-meter (2,887 by 98 ft) asphalt runway aligned 17–35 (roughly north–south).[1]The terrain south of the runway is steep and hinders any future expansion of the runway and limits the weight of Dash 8 aircraft. The tarmac has parking to two Dash 8-sized aircraft.SCAT-I,aGlobal Positioning System-based landing system is under deployment.[16]Parking and taxis are available at the airport, which is located 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) from the village of Mehamn.[17]Mehamn Airport is the northernmost airport in Continental Europe.[11]

Airlines and destinations

[edit]

Mehamn is served byWiderøe,which operates 39-seat Dash 8-100 and Q200 aircraft to other communities inFinnmark.The routes are operated aspublic service obligationsfinanced by theMinistry of Transport and Communications.[18]Many flights go to or from Tromsø or Kirkenes with several landings at other small airports.

AirlinesDestinations
WiderøeBåtsfjord,Berlevåg,Hammerfest,Honningsvåg,Vadsø

Statistics

[edit]

The airport served 14,392 passengers, 2,789 aircraft movements and handled 4 tonnes of cargo in 2014.[2]

Annual passenger traffic at MEH airport. SeeWikidata query.

Accidents and incidents

[edit]

On 11 March 1982,Widerøe Flight 933crashed into theBarents SeabetweenBerlevåg Airportand Mehamn Airport, killing all fifteen people on board the Twin Otter. The accident was caused bystructural failurein therudderandvertical stabilizerfollowing severeclear-air turbulence.A conspiracy theory arose concerning a collision with a BritishHarrierfighter, which resulted in four investigations—none which found any evidence of a collision.[19]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ab"ENMH – Mehamn"(PDF).Avinor. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 30 July 2012.Retrieved9 April2012.
  2. ^ab"Flytrafikkstatistikk desember"(in Norwegian).Avinor.January 2013. Archived fromthe originalon 26 February 2013.Retrieved30 January2013.
  3. ^Flere flytårn i Norge erstattes av fjernstyring: – Helt unikt
  4. ^abMelling: 64
  5. ^Melling: 76
  6. ^Melling: 65
  7. ^Melling: 77
  8. ^abMelling: 108
  9. ^Fredriksen, Rune A. (20 October 2008)."Tettstedet Gamvik".Gamvik Museum.Archivedfrom the original on 19 February 2015.Retrieved28 January2013.
  10. ^abcdGynnild, Olav (2009)."Flyplassenes og flytrafikkens historie".Kulturminner på norske lufthavner – Landsverneplan for Avinor.Avinor.Archived fromthe originalon 21 March 2012.Retrieved25 January2012.
  11. ^abcdNordstrøm, Jostein (19 December 2011)."Tilbake på Mehamn – Europas nordligste fastlandsflyplass med rutetrafikk"(in Norwegian).Veidekke.Archived fromthe originalon 11 May 2012.Retrieved11 February2013.
  12. ^Melling: 109
  13. ^"Staten overtar 5 flyplasser i nord".Aftenposten(in Norwegian). 16 November 1996. p. 4.
  14. ^Tuv, Kirsten (2 November 1996). "Widerøe-monopol".Dagens Næringsliv(in Norwegian). p. 10.
  15. ^Solberg, Pål E. (30 September 2004). "Tre usikre flyplasser i Midt-Norge".Adresseavisen(in Norwegian). p. 4.
  16. ^ab"Konsekvenser for luftfart"(PDF)(in Norwegian). Avinor. October 2012. p. 50. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 1 November 2013.Retrieved25 January2012.
  17. ^"Getting to and from the airport".Avinor.24 September 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 28 May 2012.Retrieved18 April2012.
  18. ^Draagen, Lars; Wilsberg, Kjell (2011)."Alternative ruteopplegg for Finnmark og Nord Troms"(PDF)(in Norwegian). Gravity Consult. p. 11.Archived(PDF)from the original on 1 November 2013.Retrieved1 October2012.
  19. ^Parliament of Norway(20 September 2005)."Rapport til Stortingets presidentskap fra Stortingets granskningskommisjon for Mehamn-ulykken"(PDF)(in Norwegian).Archived(PDF)from the original on 19 January 2016.Retrieved20 October2012.

Bibliography

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Wikimedia Commons has media related toMehamn Airport.
  • Melling, Kjersti (2009).Nordavind fra alle kanter(in Norwegian). Oslo: Pilotforlaget.
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