Ålesund Airport
Ålesund Airport
Ålesund Airport (Nynorsk: Ålesund lufthamn, IATA: AES, ICAO: ENAL), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the island of Vigra in Giske Municipality and features a 2,314-meter (7,592 ft) runway aligned 07/25. The airport served 1,077,209 passengers in 2013, making it the tenth-busiest airport in the country. Scheduled services are provided domestically to Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)¸ Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe. International scheduled services are provided by KLM Cityhopper, Norwegian, SAS and Wizz Air. The first airport serving Ålesund was Ålesund Airport, Sørneset, a water aerodrome. Vigra, which narrowly beat a proposal for an airport on the island of Gossa as the main airport for Møre og Romsdal, opened on 7 June 1958. It originally featured a 1,600-meter (5,200 ft) runway and all scheduled flights were provided by Braathens SAFE. Except for regional routes operated by Widerøe from 1971 to 1993, Braathens flew all routes out of Vigra until 1998. International flights commenced in 1977 and a new terminal opened in 1986. Norwegian Air Ambulance has operated out of the airport since 1988. Between 1995 and 1998 the 330 Squadron had a detachment at Vigra for its Westland Sea King for search and rescue. Color Air and SAS started flying to Ålesund in 1998. After suffering heavy losses, SAS bought Braathens and Color Air closed down.
Location
62.560°N, 6.111°E · 21 m s. n. m. (69 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 2
Tower
ATIS (automatic information)
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
Proposals
Plans for scheduled flights to Ålesund were first articulated in 1919 by a government commission as part of a coastal seaplane route from Stavanger to Trondheim. The first landing in Ålesund took place on 27 May 1920. Thereafter flights were sporadic. The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service set up a base at Skutvika near the town center in November 1929, which they used to search for herring. They moved the base the following year, establishing Ålesund Airport, Sørneset. Later used both for civilian flights, scheduled services and Luftwaffe operations, the Sørneset water aerodrome remained in use until 1979.
Work on a land airport around Ålesund started with a public speech held by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen in 1933. In further speeches, he proposed Vigra or the Moa area of Spjelkavik as suitable locations. The former was preferred by the government, who included it in its 1935 plan for primary airports. Following the Nazi invasion of Norway during World War II, the Luftwaffe also considered Moa as a suitable location for the region, but instead opted to build an airport on Gossa, which was not completed by the end war.
After the war ended, Møre og Romsdal County Municipality established a commission to look into the location of a central airport for the county of Møre og Romsdal. They concluded that since Gossa was nearly completed and was more centrally located within the county, it would be a preferred location. Community leaders in Ålesund lobbied to have Vigra chosen, and in 1951 two students completed calculations showing that Vigra would be cheaper than Gossa. Despite this, Gossa was selected by Parliament in 1952.
Construction
The Civil Airport Administration (CAA) issued NOK 3.2 million for the upgrade of Gossa in 1955. However, Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap, which was operating the seaplane route along the coast, launched a plan to operate Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer aircraft from a 400-meter (1,300 ft) runway at Vigra. The CAA therefore placed Gossa's funding on hold. Ålesund Municipality appointed a commission which demanded that the runway should be 1,000 meters (3,300 ft), allowing for operation of the de Havilland Heron. They negotiated the purchase of the necessary 50 hectares (120 acres) of land at Vigra and started construction on 9 January 1957. At this point Vigra was planned as a regional airport.
Within a short period the CAA determined that the Twin Pioneer would not be approved and that, following Braathens SAFE Flight 253 that Heron's would not be allowed to fly during winter. The municipality therefore applied in February 1957 that Vigra be given status as a primary airport. Parliament approved this and granted funding for air traffic control and operations. Construction involved building a 1,600-by-40-meter (5,250 by 130 ft) runway and 350 meters (1,150 ft) to taxiway. These were built by Veibygg, Fredrikstad Granittkompani and Korsbrekke og Lorck. The terminal was building measured 820 square meters (8,800 sq ft), of which 300 square meters (3,200 sq ft) was a garage, and was built by Bjarne Haugseth. Ålesund Municipality was the owner and developer. Three radio beacons were built.
Ålesund was to be connected both to Oslo Airport, Fornebu, and to a coastal service from Stavanger Airport, Sola via Bergen Airport, Flesland and Ålesund to Trondheim Airport, Værnes. The latter had been operated by Vestlandske Luftfartselskap, but they went bankrupt in 1957. Both Braathens SAFE and SAS applied for the Ålesund concession. Initially the ministry wanted to award the coastal service to Braathens and the Oslo route to SAS. But after negotiations, Braathens SAFE stated they were willing to fly the coastal route without subsidies if they were granted the Oslo-route, allowing them to cross-subsidize the former. This was accepted by the ministry.
Early operation
The first aircraft to land was a military de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, on 19 May 1958 with supplies for the navigational aids. Braathens landed a Heron on 2 June. The official opening took place on 7 June with 3,000 spectators. Flights were at first flown using the Douglas DC-4. Initially the coastal service and the Oslo service were flown one time per day.
Vigra did not originally have more to a terminal than a waiting hall. Check-in and baggage pick-up was handled at Braathens SAFE's offices at Skateflua in the city center. They were then transported by bus to the airport by Record og Vigra Rutelag (RVR). They also operated a new car ferry services which was established between Ålesund and Valderøy. Møre og Romsdal Fylkesbåtar (MRF) took over the ferry service from 1965.
Ownership of the airport passed to the CAA and the state from September 1959. This coincided with a new taxiway from the runway and the opening of the instrument landing system (ILS). This could only be used on runway 25. The Vigra Transmitter was situated in the way for the other direction. The ILS was installed without an inner marker. The tarmac was extended in 1960 to make way for a general aviation section near the control tower.
Airlines operating here · 6
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Algkalv (talk) · CC BY 3.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Ålesund Airport (AES). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AES
MLA
“Ålesund Airport (AES).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AES. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Ålesund Airport (AES).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AES.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Ålesund Airport (AES). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AES (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_aes,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Ålesund Airport (AES)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AES},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AES}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AES |title=Ålesund Airport (AES) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}