Coast Air
Coast Air AS was a regional airline based at Haugesund Airport, Karmøy in Norway. It was Norway's fourth largest airline and operated domestic services within Norway, in addition to international services. Routes were concentrated along the West Coast, as well as some public service obligation contracts in Southern Norway. The company had a fleet of de Havilland Canada Twin Otter aircraft, later replaced with Jetstream 31s and ATR 42s.
The company was founded on the remains of Coast Aero Center, which operated from 1975 to 1988. Coast Air started flying de Havilland Canada Twin Otter aircraft from Haugesund to Oslo Airport, Fornebu and Bergen Airport, Flesland. In 1990, service from Fagernes Airport, Leirin was also introduced, a route that lasted until 1997. Following the deregulation of aviation in Norway in 1994, Coast Air started several regional routes, replacing its fleet with Jetstream 31 aircraft. From 2000, Coast Air also served Florø Airport on public service obligation with the Ministry of Transport, using ATR 42 aircraft. In 2003, it lost the Florø contract, but regained the Fagernes route. From 1999, Coast Air started competing direct with the larger airlines on main routes, and introduced new regional and international services. From then on, the company continuously lost money. From 2004, it wet-leased aircraft to Vildanden, but the contract was canceled the following year. Following attempts to start new international route, Coast Air filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
History
Coast Aero Center
Coast Aero Center started operations in 1975 from Haugesund Airport. The company was a local mechanical and small-plane operator until 1984, when it started to apply for concessions to perform regional airline services in Norway. The company was owned and run by Asbjørn Utne.File:Coast Air Navajo Chieftain.jpg|thumb|left|Coast Aero Center Piper PA-31 Navajo at Aberdeen Airport in 1986
Following the 1984 decision by Scandinavian Airlines System to discontinue their route from Haugesund to Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, Coast Aero Center applied for the concession. They would use a 15-seat Embraer Bandeirante that would be bought used for NOK 7.5 million. Coast Aero Center started their service on 20 August 1986, but it turned out to be unprofitable, and was terminated in April 1987.
In October 1984, Coast Aero Center, along with Norving and Fonnafly, applied for concession for the routes from Stord Airport, Sørstokken to Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger. Coast Air was successful at receiving the concession, and service started on 12 August 1986 with a ten-seater Beechcraft Super King 200. In August, the company also received concession to fly from Stord via Skien Airport, Geiteryggen to Oslo. By March 1987, traffic had increased so much that the company instead put a larger, 20-seater Twin Otter aircraft into service. Additional concessions to fly to Haugesund were also granted the same year, as were direct services to Oslo, making the stops in Skien unnecessary.
In 1985, the company joined the joint venture Commuter Service, along with the other regional airlines Mørefly, based in Ålesund, Trønderfly, based in Trondheim, and Norsk Flytjeneste, based in Sandefjord. The goal was to coordinate the services, and grow through newer, smaller routes. On 20 June 1986, Coast Aero Center was awarded the concession for flying from Stavanger to Geilo Airport, Dagali until 1991. The airline put into service a Beechcraft Super King 200. The ridership from Geilo turned out to be too low, and both Coast Aero Center and Norving terminated their routes. In 1986, the revenue was NOK 14 million and the company had 24 employees. That year, they chose to connect to the PNR/Smart booking system. In 1988, the company also bid for operating parts of the Norwegian Air Ambulance.
The company was thrown into financial distress on 7 February 1988, when Den norske Creditbank announced that they would not issue more credit. At the time the company had nine daily routes and 35 employees. All services were immediately suspended. It had a debt of NOK 23 million, of which DnC demanded NOK 13 million paid by 10 February; the bank later gave the company three weeks to find the capital. On 17 February, a proposal for refinancing was made, where the hangars were sold to the local municipalities, who would also make a guarantee for NOK 2 million. DnC would delete part of the debt, and additional capital would be granted from Kosmos-owned Norsk Air. This was not sufficient, and on 29 April Coast Aero Center filed for bankruptcy. Asbjørn Utne had to file for personal bankruptcy.
Reestablishment
Following the bankruptcy, the estate was purchased by Coast Air. In 1989, the new company received a one-year concession to operate from Haugesund to Bergen and Stavanger, and from Geilo to Oslo and Stavanger. The company used de Havilland Canada Twin Otter aircraft. The following year, Coast Air also received the concession for operating the subsidized routes to the newly opened Fagernes Airport, Leirin. Six companies bid for the route, but only Coast Air and Widerøe were deemed qualified; Coast Air could operate for NOK 2 million annually less than Widerøe, and therefore received the concession. Operation started on 3 September 1990, with the concession valid until 24 October 1993. In 1991, Coast Air flew 5,000 passengers to and from Fagernes Airport. With a NOK 6.8 million subsidy, it was the most expensive subsidized route per passenger in the country. This was largely due to a 20% cabin load. In August 1991, Coast Air received concession until 1993 for the route Haugesund–Bergen, but the Haugesund–Stavanger route was canceled. In March 1992, Coast Air was denied a concession to operate from Stord to Stavanger; instead, the concession was granted to Air Stord. Coast Air started flying from Skien Airport in 1993, with a route to Bergen.On 1 April 1994, the Norwegian airline market was deregulated. Airlines no longer needed to apply for concession from the government, but could fly any route they wanted to. For the first time, several airlines could establish themselves on the same route. The exception was the state-subsidized regional routes, that would become subject to public service obligations from 1 April 1997. Following the deregulation, Coast Air introduced a route from Bergen to Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik with a Jetstream 31. From 1995, the airline was forced to pay much higher fees to the Norwegian Civil Aviation Administration, following the decision that all commercial plans, also those under, should pay flight fees. In October, Coast Air was close to buying Air Stord, but the company was instead sold to Aker. In 1995, two new Jetstream 31 aircraft were delivered, and the Twin Otter aircraft were transferred to the new route between Stord and Stavanger. A third Jetstream was delivered the following year, and the Twin Otter was taken out of service.
Public service obligations
The state-subsidized regional airline contracts were made subject to PSO in 1996. In a trial tender for the Fagernes route. Five domestic airlines bid, and Teddy Air won. Their bid was NOK 23.7 million, 15% lower than the former subsidy for Coast Air. In the main tender, the Ministry of Transport and Communications issued seven packages, of which Coast Air chose to bid for two—to the airports in Namdal and Helgeland, and to Andøya Airport, Andenes. All seven packages were won by the incumbent operator Widerøe. The new tenders took effect on 1 April 1997, and lasted three years.Coast Air's first PSO contract was awarded in September 1999, on the route from Florø Airport to Oslo and Bergen. This required that the company put into service two 46-seat ATR 42–300 aircraft. It also caused a problem for Widerøe, who had their technical base for Western Norway at Florø. The company received NOK 51 million annually, from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2003; this resulted in there no longer being in intermediate stops from Florø to Bergen and Oslo. Color Air flew four or five daily trips to both Bergen and Oslo. The bid was about NOK 100 million lower than from Widerøe. Saga Petroleum, who used Florø Airport as a helicopter base to fly their workers to offshore oil platforms, was critical to the use of the ATR 42 aircraft; while they were suitable for Florø, that has a runway, the planes would not be able to land at other airports in Sogn og Fjordane. In cases of bad weather, the oil company would now have to bus their passengers from Bergen and Ålesund, instead of much closer airports, such as Førde Airport, Bringeland. In February 2000, Coast Air was hit by a strike regarding which of the pilots were to be recertified to fly the larger ATR 42 aircraft. The pilots insisted that seniority be used for selection, while management wanted to be able to choose themselves. Management also wanted to secure that all personnel that were recertified signed a three-year working contract with the company. Not until mid-March was the strike settled, after a compromise had been reached.
File:Coast Air ATR-42-300.jpg|thumb|Coast Air ATR-42 at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen in 2000
In January 2000, Braathens decided that it would terminate its service from Oslo to Røros Airport, as well as reducing the number of flights between Haugesund and Bergen. Coast Air therefore announced it would increase the number of departures between Haugesund and Bergen, and at the same time was willing to fly to Røros if a state subsidy was granted. The contract to Røros was however won by Danish Air Transport, who bid NOK 500,000 per month, NOK 64,000 less than Coast Air.
The demand for air travel dropped in 2001, and only 85,000 passengers flew with Coast Air to Florø, instead of the estimated 100,000, making the entire operation a loss for the company. Despite this, Coast Air leased a third ATR 42 aircraft in February 2002. But cancellations continued to rise, and in November the company's subsidies from the ministry were reduced due to lack of performance. In December 2001, Guard Air was forced to terminate all operations, and a new PSO tender was made for the services to Fagernes. Along with Arctic Air, Widerøe and DAT, Coast Air made a bid. The contract was won by Arctic Air. With the next round of PSO contracts, valid from 1 April 2003 through 31 March 2006, Coast Air lost the Florø contract to DAT, but succeeded at winning the contract for Fagernes for NOK 10 million per year.
Following the 2005 announcement of the PSO contracts from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2009, Coast Air was awarded three contracts. In addition to retaining the Fagernes route, it also received the concession for the Røros and Andenes routes. The three routes gave NOK 35 million in annual subsidies. Røros and Andenes would be served by ATR 42-aircraft, while Jetstreams would be used to Fagernes. From 30 January 2007, the company also started flying from Røros to Trondheim twice a week. From 1 April 2007, Coast Air canceled their flights to Andenes. Since the operations were separated from the rest of the network, it was not possible to fly profitably. Widerøe subsequently took over the route. During July 2007, Coast Air introduced the smaller Jetstream aircraft on the routes to Røros.