Moss Airport, Rygge (; ) was a minor international airport serving Moss, Oslo and Eastern Norway. It is located in Rygge, outside Moss and outside Oslo. It also served as a regional airport for Østfold county and owned and was operated by the private company Rygge Sivile Lufthavn AS.
Moss/Rygge shut down to all civilian traffic on 1 November 2016. The airport is however co-located with the still operational Rygge Air Station, operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force, which also owns the land and runway. The control tower services (air traffic control) are operated by Avinor.
The airport opened on 8 October 2007, but did not officially open until 14 February 2008, when regular scheduled services started. The airport has a capacity for 2 million passengers per year, but could not reach this because of a concession limit of 21,000 annual air movements. The airport handled 1,890,889 passengers in 2013. The airport used to be a major base for Ryanair from March 2010 until October 2016 and was also served to a much lesser extent by Norwegian Air Shuttle and few charter operators. The airport has been closed to all civilian traffic since 1 November 2016 due to a proposal from its main commercial operator, Ryanair, to shut down its base at the airport on that date after a new Norwegian passenger tax was introduced.
There are plans to reopen the airport for passenger traffic. There is interest from airlines, but aircraft delivery delays mean opening is planned for spring 2021 (as of spring 2020).
In 2021 the airport was used as a COVID-19 test and vaccine center.
History
Early years
The first aerodrome at Rygge was built in 1942 and 1943, but was located about west from the current runway. The aerodrome was closed in 1945, but reopened in 1949 as a military aviation school, although the school only remained for two years. In 1952 it was decided that Rygge was to become a military air station which met NATO specifications. This included the expropriation of of land, costing NOK 12 million. The new Rygge Main Air Station was established on 15 September 1954, after investments of NOK 127 million. The old airport was closed and remained a camp until it was closed in 2003. Rygge Main Air Station hosted the 332 Squadron, and later the 336 Squadron and the 720 Squadron 330 Squadron. From 2003, the fighter jets were moved from Rygge to Bodø Main Air Station.
The airport during the 1990s
On 8 October 1998, Oslo Airport, Gardermoen took over the role as the main airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from Oslo Airport, Fornebu. Several other locations, including Hurum, Hobøl and Ås, had been considered, all which were located closer to Oslo and the Oslofjord area. The choice of location was controversial, in part because Gardermoen would be located further than Fornebu from among other things Østfold and Follo. In 1998, a report was made by SCC Trafikon which concluded that by building a civilian section at Rygge Air Station, it would be possible to generate 130,000 passengers per year, of which 40,000 would be charter travels. This was a higher passenger potential than Torp. Several regional airlines, such as Teddy Air, Air Stord and Coast Air, all stated that they could be interested in routes from Rygge, while Scandinavian Airlines, Braathens and Widerøe stated that they were not interested in flying from the airport. The idea was initially supported by local parliamentarians, Østfold County Council and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. The latter stated that the most important air routes were those to Gardermoen and Torp, while the Trafikon report recommended routes to Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Copenhagen.
In February 1999, Minister of Transport and Communications Dag Jostein Fjærvoll stated that he supported the opening of civilian traffic from Rygge. Estimates from then were for an investment of 80 million Norwegian krone for a capacity of 150,000 annual passengers. However, the plans allowed for further expansion to 500,000 annual passengers. In July, the operating company Rygge Sivile Lufthavn was established. Owners were Borregaard (46.7%), Østfold County Municipality (20%), M. Peterson & Søn (16.6%) and Capricorn Invest (16.6%). The share capital was initially NOK 3 million. Egil Ullebø was appointed the company's chair. According to the plans, the company would need NOK 50 million in share capital, and the Norwegian Civil Airport Administration was intended to own 34% of the airport.