Fjellfly - Operations

Operations

Newspaper flying was one of the airline's main contracts. Dagbladet and Verdens Gang, the two main non-subscription newspapers, had a fierce competition to bring their newspapers first to the market. Fjellfly had a contract to fly Dagbladet out from Oslo to Hamar, Tønsberg, Sandefjord, Skien, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim. If weather conditions did not allow visual flight rules, the latter four would be transported by scheduled services instead. In extreme cases where the weather did not allow flights to the airports in Eastern Norway, Fjellfly was responsible for distributing the newspaper by truck.

To supplement the newspaper flights, Kjetilson started a systematic campaign to fly tourist into the mountain areas of Hardangervidda and Setesdalsheiene. The airline established a summer base at Møsvatn. The Cessna 180 was equipped with hydraulic skis, allowing the aircraft to land both on runways and on lakes. The peak period was during the hunting season in September. The airline also flew a route with Dagbladet which it dropped at about 65 hotels and resorts in a six to seven hour trip. By the 1960s, the airline flew a regular service Skien–Oslo–Sandefjord–Larvik–Skien.

From 1963 Fjellfly started crop dusting forests with fertilizer on a contract with Felleskjøpet. A Cessna 185 seaplane was bought for the job, which allowed it to be used for crop dusting in May and June, and be used for passenger flights the rest of the year. The first such mission took place on 3 May 1963. Although some of the operations took place from airstrips, most of the work was carried out using seaplanes. At the peak, four aircraft were used for crop dusting: two 185s, a Piper Super Cub and a Pilatus Porter. During the 1960s, Fjellfly had two domesticated bears which were held a the airport.