newstodate.aero
May 08, 2018 (newstodate): The Norwegian airport Lakselv Airport, close to the Polar circle and - not least - close to the country's seafood production sites, is one of three Avinor airports seen as potential departure points for seafood exports to Asia.
Lakselv Airport has earlier been at the center of ambitious seafood logistics projects such as Viking International Airlines in 2015 and Arctic AirCargo in 2010 - but all aborted before lift-off.
And until the end of 2016, the airport also served North Cape's dedicated TU-204 freighter flights to Seoul, in South Korea.
Today, the airport is seeing two weekly operations by DHL with a mix depending on the booking situation of Boeing 737F and West Atlantic's CRJ-200F carrying Kings Crabs into Oslo Airport for onward flights to Asia.
-The airport is basically capable of handling a Boeing 747 or a Boeing 777 freighter, but with a weight penalty as a fully loaded aircraft would require a runway longer than our current 2,800 m, says Ulf Myrmel, Lakselv Airport Manager.
-As proved by our handling of large cargo aircraft such as the AN-124 and Boeing 747-400F, the apron can accommodate the parking of these aircraft, fueling is no problem, and we have adequate GSE materiel to handling of cargo as requested to day.
-The airport infrastructure is thus in place for handling of large freighter aircraft, the runway was re-asphalted and the runway lighting system was upgraded in 2017.
-Technically, we would be fully prepared to handling a large seafood freighter operation but it is of course entirely up to the market to verify if there is a sustainable business case to attract a freighter operator.
-The crucial issue will remain to obtain a balance between imports and exports, says Mr Myrmel.
Lakselv Airport has earlier been at the center of ambitious seafood logistics projects such as Viking International Airlines in 2015 and Arctic AirCargo in 2010 - but all aborted before lift-off.
And until the end of 2016, the airport also served North Cape's dedicated TU-204 freighter flights to Seoul, in South Korea.
Today, the airport is seeing two weekly operations by DHL with a mix depending on the booking situation of Boeing 737F and West Atlantic's CRJ-200F carrying Kings Crabs into Oslo Airport for onward flights to Asia.
-The airport is basically capable of handling a Boeing 747 or a Boeing 777 freighter, but with a weight penalty as a fully loaded aircraft would require a runway longer than our current 2,800 m, says Ulf Myrmel, Lakselv Airport Manager.
-As proved by our handling of large cargo aircraft such as the AN-124 and Boeing 747-400F, the apron can accommodate the parking of these aircraft, fueling is no problem, and we have adequate GSE materiel to handling of cargo as requested to day.
-The airport infrastructure is thus in place for handling of large freighter aircraft, the runway was re-asphalted and the runway lighting system was upgraded in 2017.
-Technically, we would be fully prepared to handling a large seafood freighter operation but it is of course entirely up to the market to verify if there is a sustainable business case to attract a freighter operator.
-The crucial issue will remain to obtain a balance between imports and exports, says Mr Myrmel.