THE NEW MO I RANA AIRPORT
AN ENTRANCE GATE FOR HELGELAND
Ever since the mid-sixties, Helgeland region's development has been hampered by a lack of good transport services by air. In Mo i Rana, a short-haul airport of only eight hundred meters and in addition flight offers have put many travelers in trouble, both summer and winter, often caused by weather conditions. After many years of planning, it is decided to build a 2,400 meter long airport that can be operated by larger aircraft. Both for residents, visitors and for the region's business community, a new time calculation will begin in the autumn of 2025.
Sketch prepared by the Nordic Office of Architecture
For decades Widerøe's Twin Otter was the common way to travel by air at Helgeland. Photo: Felix Goetting
As early as the 1980s, plans were drawn up for a major airport near Mo i Rana. The original plans were to expand the existing short-haul airport, but terrain and weather conditions did not make these plans possible.
In 2007, plans for a brand new airport were launched, just 4 km southeast of the existing airport. Since then, the work has been purposeful and intense to realize the plans, and for several years the plans have got it's political support from both the Storting and Nordland County Council. In 2021, the project was taken over by Avinor from the local company, Arctic Circle Airport Development, and the construction work is planned from the spring of 2022.
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The Mo i Rana Airport Fagerlia will be connected to the main grid og airports, which is currently served by SAS, Norwegian, Flyr and charter companies. The passenger base is good, and fully on par with several of the other main route airports. For the business community Helgeland and for a tourism industry that has hardly been allowed to develop in any other direction than towards busses and car traffic, the airport will be of great importance.
