Key Takeaways
- Oslo Gardermoen towers over the rest. Oslo (OSL) serves around 117 regularly-served nonstop destinations — nearly three times the next airport — and is Norway’s only intercontinental gateway and the main base of SAS and Norwegian.
- Only Oslo flies nonstop to the United States. Oslo is the single Norwegian airport with scheduled nonstop service to the US (the New York area), flown by SAS and Oslo-based long-haul carrier Norse Atlantic Airways. Most other US trips connect via a European hub.
- Ranked by routes, not passengers. This list ranks airports by destinations served. By that measure Tromsø just edges Bergen — but Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger all carry more passengers than Tromsø, which scores highly on its dense Arctic route network.
- A country built for flying. With fjords, mountains and a long Arctic coast, Norway keeps about 40 airports with scheduled service for 5.5 million people. Regional carrier Widerøe stitches the smallest of them together on state-subsidised short-runway routes.
- From the North Sea to 78°N. The network stretches from Kristiansand in the south to Svalbard’s Longyearbyen — the world’s northernmost airport with scheduled commercial flights — by way of Tromsø, Bodø and the Finnmark fields near the Russian border.
Few countries lean on aviation quite like Norway. A long, fjord-cut coastline, mountain ranges that split the country in two and a sparsely populated Arctic north make flying less a luxury than basic infrastructure — which is why a nation of just 5.5 million people supports roughly 40 airports with scheduled service. Most are run by the state operator Avinor, and many of the smallest are kept alive by government-purchased routes flown by regional carrier Widerøe.
One airport stands far above the others. Oslo Airport, Gardermoen (OSL) is the country’s only true hub and its single intercontinental gateway, handling the vast majority of Norway’s long-haul and international traffic and serving as the main base for SAS and Norwegian. After that come the regional capitals — Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger — and the Arctic gateways of Tromsø and Bodø. The map and table below rank Norway’s airports by the number of destinations they serve with regular flights, drawing on live AirportRoutes route data.
Which Norwegian airports have direct flights to the US?
Just one. Oslo Gardermoen is the only airport in Norway with scheduled nonstop service to the United States, currently reaching the New York area (Newark), with other US destinations coming and going seasonally. The main operators are flag carrier SAS and Norse Atlantic Airways — an Oslo-based long-haul low-cost airline flying Boeing 787s — joined at times by US carriers.
Everywhere else in the country, a trip to the US means connecting: typically through Oslo, or via a larger European hub such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London. None of Norway’s regional airports — not Bergen, Trondheim or Stavanger — currently offers a scheduled transatlantic passenger route of its own.
RANKED BY DESTINATIONS
Norway’s busiest airports
By regularly-served nonstop destinations (live AirportRoutes data). Oslo dwarfs the field; Tromsø edges Bergen on routes, though Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger are larger by passengers.
| Airport | IATA | Serves | City / region |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Oslo Gardermoen | OSL | 117 | Oslo / Akershus |
| 2. Tromsø Langnes | TOS | 41 | Tromsø / Troms |
| 3. Bergen Flesland | BGO | 40 | Bergen / Vestland |
| 4. Trondheim Værnes | TRD | 25 | Trondheim / Trøndelag |
| 5. Stavanger Sola | SVG | 24 | Stavanger / Rogaland |
| 6. Sandefjord Torp | TRF | 23 | Sandefjord / Vestfold (Oslo region) |
| 7. Bodø | BOO | 15 | Bodø / Nordland |
| 8. Harstad/Narvik Evenes | EVE | 11 | Evenes / Nordland |
| 9. Ålesund Vigra | AES | 7 | Ålesund / Møre og Romsdal |
| 10. Hammerfest | HFT | 7 | Hammerfest / Finnmark |
| 11. Alta | ALF | 6 | Alta / Finnmark |
| 12. Vadsø | VDS | 6 | Vadsø / Finnmark |
| 13. Kirkenes Høybuktmoen | KKN | 5 | Kirkenes / Finnmark |
| 14. Haugesund Karmøy | HAU | 5 | Haugesund / Rogaland |
| 15. Kristiansand Kjevik | KRS | 4 | Kristiansand / Agder |
| 16. Brønnøysund | BNN | 4 | Brønnøysund / Nordland |
| 17. Leknes | LKN | 4 | Leknes / Lofoten |
| 18. Sandnessjøen | SSJ | 4 | Sandnessjøen / Nordland |
A closer look at Norway’s busiest airports
✈️ Oslo Gardermoen (OSL)
Oslo Gardermoen, about 35 km northeast of the capital, is Norway’s largest and busiest airport by a wide margin and its only intercontinental gateway. It is the main hub of SAS — the SkyTeam flag carrier shared by Norway, Sweden and Denmark — and a major base for low-cost rival Norwegian.
OSL reaches roughly 117 regularly-served nonstop destinations, including more than 25 intercontinental routes — by far the widest network in the country. Frequent links include Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Paris and Frankfurt, alongside busy domestic trunk routes to Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger and long-haul flights to the US, the Middle East and Asia.
Main airlines: SAS, Norwegian and Widerøe, with Norse Atlantic Airways operating long-haul and a wide range of European carriers serving the international routes. See OSL’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Tromsø Langnes (TOS)
Tromsø, more than 1,000 km north of Oslo, is the gateway to Arctic Norway and the busiest airport above the Arctic Circle. It is the hub for Northern Lights and winter tourism and the pivot of the northern domestic network, with seasonal international flights swelling its destination count.
TOS serves around 41 regularly-served destinations — narrowly the second-widest network in Norway by route count, even though it carries fewer passengers than Bergen, Trondheim or Stavanger. Its links run to Oslo and the southern cities, across the Arctic to Hammerfest, Alta, Kirkenes and Bodø, and seasonally to European leisure markets.
Main airlines: Widerøe, SAS, Norwegian, with Finnair and easyJet among the seasonal international operators. See TOS’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Bergen Flesland (BGO)
Bergen Flesland, on the west coast, is Norway’s second-largest airport by passengers — the gateway to the western fjords and the offshore energy industry. Although Tromsø just edges it on raw route count, Bergen handles far more travellers each year.
BGO serves about 40 regularly-served destinations, a broad mix of domestic trunk routes (Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger) and international links to Copenhagen, Amsterdam and other European cities, plus low-cost flying from Wizz Air.
Main airlines: SAS, Norwegian, Widerøe, with Wizz Air, KLM and other European carriers on the international routes. See BGO’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Trondheim Værnes (TRD)
Trondheim Værnes serves Norway’s third-largest city and the central region of Trøndelag. It is an important node in the domestic network, linking the south to the long string of regional airports running up the Nordland coast.
TRD reaches about 25 regularly-served destinations, weighted toward domestic routes — Oslo, Bergen and a fan of Nordland fields such as Brønnøysund, Mosjøen and Sandnessjøen — with international links to Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
Main airlines: SAS, Norwegian and Widerøe, with KLM among the international operators. See TRD’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Stavanger Sola (SVG)
Stavanger Sola, one of the oldest airports in Norway, is the hub of the country’s oil and gas industry. Alongside scheduled flights it is a major centre for North Sea helicopter operations serving the offshore platforms.
SVG serves roughly 24 regularly-served destinations, heavily international for its size — Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Frankfurt and a strong link to Aberdeen, mirroring the energy ties between the two North Sea capitals — plus the busy domestic shuttle to Oslo and Bergen.
Main airlines: SAS, Norwegian, Widerøe, with KLM and Wizz Air on the international routes. See SVG’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Sandefjord Torp (TRF)
Despite often being marketed as “Oslo Torp,” Sandefjord Airport sits in Vestfold roughly 110 km south of Oslo, near the town of Sandefjord. It is Norway’s main low-cost gateway, built around the budget carriers rather than the flag airlines.
TRF reaches about 23 regularly-served destinations, almost all of them European point-to-point leisure and visiting-friends routes — Gdańsk, Kraków, Warsaw, Manchester and Riga among them — operated chiefly by Ryanair and Wizz Air, with some domestic flights to Bergen and Stavanger.
Main airlines: Ryanair, Wizz Air, Norwegian and Widerøe. See TRF’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Bodø (BOO)
Bodø, just above the Arctic Circle, is the regional capital of Nordland and the southern anchor of the northern domestic network. It was a European Capital of Culture in 2024, and a brand-new airport is being built beside the current one as the old military runway is relocated.
BOO serves around 15 regularly-served destinations, almost entirely domestic — Oslo and Trondheim southbound, and a dense web of short Widerøe hops to Lofoten and Helgeland airports such as Leknes, Svolvær, Stokmarknes and Røst.
Main airlines: Widerøe, SAS and Norwegian. See BOO’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Harstad/Narvik Evenes (EVE)
Evenes sits between the towns of Harstad and Narvik and serves the Vesterålen and Ofoten districts — and, increasingly, visitors heading for the Lofoten islands. It also doubles as a military air station.
EVE reaches about 11 regularly-served destinations, led by Oslo and regional links to Bodø, Trondheim, Tromsø and the tiny Andøya field, with seasonal international flying including a Frankfurt route operated by Lufthansa’s leisure arm Discover Airlines.
Main airlines: SAS, Norwegian and Widerøe, with seasonal international operators. See EVE’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
Arctic Norway, Finnmark and Svalbard
Beyond the main hubs, much of Norway’s map is filled by small Arctic and coastal airports that exist for one reason: there is often no quick alternative by road. Almost all are served by Widerøe on its short-runway Dash-8 turboprops, much of it under government-purchased (FOT) route contracts that guarantee a lifeline service. In Finnmark, the country’s far north-east, that means a cluster of fields — Alta (6 destinations), Hammerfest (7), Vadsø (6) and a string of even smaller strips — feeding into Tromsø and each other.
✈️ Kirkenes (KKN)
Kirkenes, only a few kilometres from the Russian border, is the easternmost airport in Norway and the northern terminus of the famous Hurtigruten coastal voyage. It is the main air gateway to the eastern Finnmark region.
KKN serves about 5 regularly-served destinations — Tromsø and Oslo southbound, plus short Widerøe links to neighbouring Finnmark towns such as Vadsø and Vardø.
Main airlines: Widerøe, SAS and Norwegian. See KKN’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
✈️ Svalbard / Longyearbyen (LYR)
Perched at 78°N on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Longyearbyen is the world’s northernmost airport with scheduled commercial service. It is the only practical way in or out of the islands for most of the year.
Despite its remoteness it is no bush strip — full-size jets connect it to the mainland year-round, mainly to Oslo and Tromsø, carrying researchers, miners-turned-tourists and a growing stream of Arctic visitors.
Main airlines: SAS and Norwegian. See LYR’s full route map on AirportRoutes →
Airport rankings, nonstop-destination counts, served cities, airline lists and US connections are drawn from live AirportRoutes route data (observed AeroAPI flight data — a sample, not a complete published schedule; we use the regularly-served figure, which filters one-off observations). Airport history and notable facts are cross-checked against the cited references. The maps are Mappr originals.
Primary Data Source:
- AirportRoutes — Major airports & routes, Norway – Live route data: per-airport nonstop destinations, served cities, airlines and US connections.
References:
- Avinor — Norway’s state airport operator – Operator of Oslo Gardermoen, Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø, Bodø and most other Norwegian airports.
- Widerøe — Norway’s regional carrier – Operates the short-runway and government-purchased (FOT) regional network across coastal and Arctic Norway.
- Wikipedia — Oslo Gardermoen, Bergen, Tromsø, Svalbard & other Norwegian airports – Airport background, passenger figures and operational history.
- Google Static Maps – Base maps for the per-airport locator images.
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