Arendal Airport, Gullknapp (; ) is a general aviation airport situated at Blakstadheia in Froland, Norway. It consists of a single 1,199-meter (3,650 ft) asphalt runway aligned 05/23. The airport is located about from the town center of Arendal.
Plans for an airport in Aust-Agder were first proposed in the 1930s at Løddesøl. The airport operating company was founded in 1984 and construction on the original runway commenced in 1987 and was completed in 1992. It was paved in 1996, when an operating permission was granted. The runway was extended to 1,120 meters (3650 ft) in 2006 and in 2008 a majority of the shares were bought by Arendals Fossekompani. This spurred work on further expansions in order to compete with Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik. Concession for scheduled services was issued in 2014.
History
Løddesøl proposal
Proposals for an airport in the vicinity of Arendal were first launched in the late 1930s. Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik opened on 1 June 1939 as Norway's third land airport. It has since been closest airport to Arendal with scheduled flights.
During the 1950s the Royal Norwegian Air Force examined the possibilities of building an emergency aerodrome in Aust-Agder. They settled for Løddesøl, about north of Arendal. The ground was bought and investments in a road and a water line commenced, but none of the work was finalized. Braathens SAFE resumed the plans in April 1956, when they announced that they planned to fly to Arendal as an intermediate stop on their service from Oslo Airport, Fornebu to Stavanger Airport, Sola. Ludvig G. Braathen stated that he hoped that an airport could be built quickly, citing the fast completion of Notodden Airport, Tuven. The airline stated the need for a runway of between , estimated to cost seven to eight hundred thousand Norwegian krone (NOK).
Establishment
Work on the airport resumed in the 1970s, this time under the auspice of Aust-Agder County Municipality. This eventually led to the procurement of land for Gullknapp in 1984. The same year a limited company, Gullknapp A/S, was established to secure ownership of the airport. A cooperation was carried out with Blakstad Upper Secondary School. They became the primary users of the facilities, and were the main contributors to the construction of a road to the airport and the building of a runway. They started work in 1987 and by 1990 they had invested about NOK 2.4 million in the facility. The airport company invested a further NOK 1 million in administration and planning.
In 1988 a campaign was started to gain support amongst local businesses. At the time the plans called for investments of NOK 40 million. Gullknapp was at the time one of fourteen regional airports being considered by the state. They had just completed a round of building nine new regional airports during the mid-1980s and more communities were interested. Minister of Transport and Communications William Engseth stated in 1988 that a cap had been reached on the number of regional airports which would receive state grants, underlining how each regional passenger cost the government NOK 1,500 in subsidies.
The establishment spurred a political debate locally, with the municipalities of Arendal and Hisøy backing the project. The Civil Airport Administration granted in 1990 permission to build a runway, along with tarmac for six small aircraft. By then a further NOK 2.1 million in investments were needed, but the municipalities turned down funding, pointing to the proximity to Kjevik.
Work on a gravel runway was completed in 1992. However, there was a power line just short of the runway which needed to be moved for the airport to receive operating permission. The airport had originally been foreseen to waive the requirement, but after an accident where an aircraft crashed into a power line near an airport the authorities became more restrictive. Arendal and Froland Municipalities, the owners of the airport at the time, were only willing to fund the NOK 352,000 cost of moving the power lines as long as the county also partially fund it. The latter rejected any responsibility, citing that the power line was municipally owned and they were having to cut back on hospital services and could not prioritize the airport. As a result, the airport was disused for more four years. Not until July 1996 did the airport reopen, after upgrades which included asphalting the runway.