Construction

Two water aerodromes served Haugesund before the opening of the airport at Helganes. Haugesund Naval Air Station was in use by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service from 1918 to 1919. Haugesund Airport, Storesundsskjær was taken into use in 1936 and served various coastal seaplane services operated by Widerøe, Norwegian Air Lines and West Norway Airlines until its closing in 1956.

The opening of Bergen Airport, Flesland in 1956 caused the coastal seaplane services to be terminated. Haugesund Municipality preemptively started working with plans for a land airport ahead of this. With Storesundsskjær closed, the townspeople had to travel to Stavanger Airport, Sola to catch an aircraft. A proposed feeder service was rejected and the municipal council instead asked that the state grants be used to help fund a land airport. An inter-municipal commission was established in 1954, which in November 1956 recommended that Utvik in Avaldsnes in today's Karmøy be selected as a site for a regional airport with a 600-meter (2,000 ft) runway. This led to Haugesund Municipality spending NOK 1.1 million in 1959 to buy a suitable lot there.

The 1962 state commission led by Preben Munthe recommended in a 1965 white paper that Haugesund receive an airport. It prioritized Haugesund second—after the completion of Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes and Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget—and parallel with proposed airports in Leknes and Sandnessjøen. This led to a new debate about the location of an airport for Haugesund. The main concern with Utvik was that it would occupy agricultural land. Twenty-three other locations were considered by a local commission, including sites in Sveio Municipality, Tysvær Municipality, and southern Karmøy Municipality. They found Utvik and Sør-Karmøyheia to be the most suitable. The Civil Aviation Administration (later renamed Avinor) considered those places and also looked into Kongsheiene. These sites limited the runway length to 1,800 and 1,600 meters (5,900 and 5,200 ft), respectively. Karmøy Municipal Council rejected the Utvik alternative in May 1966 of concern to farmland.

At this time Helganes was launched as a proposal by its land-owner. This proposal was followed up and ultimately chosen by the authorities. Parliament approved the airport on 2 June 1972. Prior to this the inter-municipal commission had bought the land and built water, power and sewer lines to the site, costing NOK 20 million. Construction commenced in 1973 and took thirteen months, costing 65 million kr. The small lake Tyviktjønn was drained in the process, and the airport received a runway measuring 1,720 by 45 meters (5,643 by 148 ft). The first landing was a Convair Metropolitan on 22 November 1974 operated by the CAA to test the navigational aids. The official opening took place on 8 April 1975.

Early operations

The route concessions were split between Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and Braathens SAFE. The former was allowed to fly the route to Oslo Airport, Fornebu, while the latter was permitted to fly to Bergen and Stavanger. Braathens chose to not operate this concession. Two airlines were established at the airport in 1975: Coast Aero Center and Nordsjøfly. These both started various air taxi services.

Nordsjøfly commenced a services between Stavanger, Haugesund and Bergen in 1976. They flew three times daily to Bergen and twice daily to Stavanger, while SAS flew twice daily to Oslo. From 1979 this increased to three daily flights. In the first years the opening hours were a contended issue as the airport was closed in the middle of the day and late evenings. From 27 December 1976 a third shift was introduced, significantly increasing the airport's operational hours. The general aviation and mostly helicopter operator Fonnafly established an office at the airport the following year.

The airport opened with an instrument landing system, but only runway 13 had a localizer. This was changed in 1978, when a localizer from runway 31 was also installed. There was a political discussion about Helilift establishing an offshore helicopter terminal at Haugesund Airport, to compete with Helikopter Service which at the time was operating out of Stavanger Airport, Forus. However, the government found that there was no need for such a base.

By 1981 all the airlines at the airport were losing money. The third departure to Oslo did not generate sufficient patronage, and after threatening to terminate the extra flight, SAS introduced a surcharge on all Haugesund tickets to covers its NOK 3 million per year deficit on the route. Also Nordsjøfly was struggling, and was bought by Norving in 1981. It made an interlining agreement with KLM which allowed passengers to fly from Haugesund via Stavanger to Amsterdam for the same prices as from Stavanger. Similar agreements were soon struck with other international airlines operating out of Stavanger. After only being allowed to carry a maximum of nine passengers, Norsjøfly was from then allowed to operate the larger 19-passenger Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner.

Nordsjøfly operated with a loss every year.