Cohabiting couple Christoffer Robin Jensen and Kathrine Fjelleng Mikalsen in Kjøllefjord are among those reacting to the high ticket prices. The couple have two small children whom they would like to take with them south to Kathrine’s parents outside Sandnessjøen. – We checked the prices now for the winter holidays. When we entered the dates on which we were to travel, it came to up to NOK 50,000 for us round trip Mehamn–Mosjøen, says Jensen. – It means that you don’t travel. Our children do not get the same relationship with my parents as they could have, says Mikalsen. Another option for the family is to get in the car and drive 1,412 kilometers to the grandparents. This is the distance the family must travel to be able to visit the grandparents in Sandnessjøen. The action group Maiken Garder from Hammerfest started has also grown tired of the sky-high prices. That is why she has started a campaign on social media to bring down the prices. She believes that the flight prices mean that people in the rural areas are cut off from participating in society. Maiken Garder in Hammerfest has started a public campaign against the high prices on the short-haul network. Photo: Allan Klo/news This was previously discussed by the online newspaper iFinnmark, and in a short time over 1,500 have joined the petition. – A company will have problems covering costs of up to NOK 20,000 per employee to travel down to the big cities in Norway, says Garder. According to her, this limits both customer meetings, courses and skills development and private travel. – Flying from the short-haul network should cost the same as flying between Oslo and Bergen, or Oslo and Trondheim. The prices are NOK 800 for a normal low-cost ticket. Fewer people will be able to fly in connection with customer meetings, courses and skills development and private travel, believes the initiator of the public action. Photo: Jan Harald Tomassen / news Price shock in the north On the petition page, frustrated residents in the north point to several examples of trips that cost a lot of money. news has tried to copy the screenshots of these prices, but this cannot be done afterwards. news itself has carried out random tests to check the price level on the short-haul network. We chose a completely random date and airports a month in advance, adult ticket and return a week later. Two of the routes that have been chosen are so-called FOT routes, i.e. flight routes that have been bought by the state to ensure the flight offer. We do this to see if there is a big difference in price. The routes that have been chosen are: Berlevåg-Tromsø Berlevåg-Kirkenes (FOT routes) Berlevåg-Oslo Hasvik-Tromsø (FOT route) Hasvik-Oslo You can see the prices we got here: Berlevåg-OsloOslo-BerlevågHasvik-OsloOslo-Hasvik-Tromsø .Tromsø-HasvikBerlevåg-Kirkenes and return. Reply to Widerøe on the ticket price examples Berlevåg-Kirkenes: This is a tender route. Fly with a subsidy from the state (Ministry of Transport). Maximum price NOK 1117. The price is determined by the Ministry of Transport. Tromsø-Berlevåg/Berlevåg-Tromsø: This is a commercial route. Fly without subsidy from the state. Here, the prices reflect what the flight actually costs. Prices from NOK 829. Tromsø-Hasvik/Hasvik-Tromsø: This is a tender route. Fly with a subsidy from the state (Ministry of Transport). Maximum price NOK 1195. The price is determined by the Ministry of Transport. Oslo-Hasvik/Hasvik-Oslo: Widerøe does not fly from Oslo to Hasvik. We can only answer for the cost of Widrøe’s routes, which in this case will be Tromsø-Hasvik. The maximum price on this route is NOK 1,195. This is a tender route and the price has been decided politically. For the shortest possible travel time, you must book a combination trip with SAS or Norwegian on the route between Oslo and Tromsø. From there you fly on with Widerøe from Tromsø to Hasvik. Then it will be the price for SAS/Norwegian’s plane ticket plus the price for Widerøe’s plane ticket, which makes up the total price (price plus price). Oslo-Berlevåg/Berlevåg-Oslo: Widerøe does not fly from Oslo to Berlevåg. We can only answer for the cost of Widerøe’s routes. In this case, you have several options: either to fly from Berlevåg to Kirkenes (tender route – maximum price NOK 1117) or to fly from Berlevåg to Tromsø (commercial route – prices from NOK 829), and from there to Oslo with another airline. Here too, the price for SAS/Norwegian’s plane ticket plus the price for Widerøe’s plane ticket makes up the total price (price plus price). – It’s great that Finnmarkingen is getting involved. Communications advisor in Widerøe, Lina Lindegaard Carlsen, writes to news that it is important to distinguish between the different types of flight routes. She points out that the ticket price on tender routes is in practice determined by the Ministry of Transport. Lina Lindegaard Carlsen, communications advisor at Widerøe AS. Photo: Einar Aslaksen “The reason why the ticket prices on the commercial flight routes are higher than the ticket prices on the tender routes is because we fly the commercial routes without subsidy from the state. Here, the prices reflect what the flight actually costs,” she writes. Carlsen still thinks it’s great to be involved in air fares in the north. “We 100 per cent support the desire to get lower flight prices in the north. This is absolutely necessary public transport, and we think it’s great that Finnmarkingen is getting involved in air fares.” Election promise not fulfilled For several years, the current ruling party, the Center Party, has promised cheaper plane tickets in the north. Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum opened his election campaign in Nordkapp two years ago, where the number one promise was to reduce the prices of the short-haul network. They wanted to do that to entice young people to stay in the district. However, little has happened to the award after they won the election with the Labor Party. – This is something the government wants to do something about, says State Secretary Bent-Joacim Bentzen (Sp) in the Ministry of Transport. Bent-Joacim Bentzen in the Center Party. Photo: Benjamin Fredriksen / news He further points out that the government wants to buy more FOT routes to bring down the prices. – The Center Party voted for you to halve the prices on the short-haul network, why haven’t you done it? – The reason for that is that it is contract-based, and there are contracts with the airlines that the previous government entered into. And they go out until next year. This is something we are working on now. Bringing prices down is an important point for me and the Center Party, Bentzen replies. The contracts on the FOT routes expire on 31 March next year. – The prices have to come down On Friday 27 January, Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård presents a new national strategy for Norwegian aviation. The strategy will be presented at a meeting with the players in the industry. The Ministry of Transport states that the FOT routes will be carefully discussed in the new strategy. The family in Kjøllefjord is still skeptical, but they have a clear demand: – The prices have to come down. It is completely unsustainable that it should cost a family of four 50,000 to travel halfway down the country, she says.
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Demands lower flight prices on the short-haul network in Northern Norway – news Troms and Finnmark
