Construction on Oslo Gardermoen Airport began in 1994.

On October 8, 1998, Gardermoen Airport (OSL) became the primary airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway. Until the new site opened, Fornebu Airport (FBU) was the primary international airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway.

Gardermoen began life in 1740 as a military camp called "Fredericksfeldt." The first aircraft to land there was in 1912 when the area became a base for military flights. When the Germans invaded Norway on April 9, 1940, the Luftwaffe took over the airfield and constructed two 6,600-foot runways. Following the war, Gardermoen became a base for the Norwegian Air Force.

By 1972 air traffic at Fornebu had increased to such an extent that the authorities decided to move all charter flights to Gardermoen. This created a divided solution with two airports serving Oslo. Planners told the government that as air traffic continued to grow, they would end up having to move all international flights to Gardermoen or build a new airport.

In the early 1980s, it was decided to continue with the two airports and build a larger terminal at Fornebu. By 1985 the traffic had increased to such an extent that moving all international flights to Gardermoen was again up for debate. The needs of the Norwegian Air Force had not been considered, which led the Norwegian parliament to reject the idea and start thinking about building a new airport.

Hurum was chosen as the location, but after surveying the area, it became apparent that it was susceptible to fog. Meteorologists and pilots disagreed, saying that the surveys had been manipulated.

Since an airport could not be built in Hurum, it was decided to build the new airport at Gardermoen and link it with a high-speed rail line to Oslo.

A twist in the decision to not build the new airport in Hurum cropped up in 1994 when the engineer who claimed the weather reports were false mysteriously fell to his death from a hotel window in Copenhagen. The circumstances of his death were never cleared up, and all the documents and the weather surveys disappeared.

The government bought all the land and houses around Gardermoen on which the airport would be built. The houses were demolished, and the ground was leveled for the new airport. Modeled partially after Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the airport was to have a single terminal and two parallel runways.

After putting the financing in place, construction of the new airport began on August 13, 1994. With Gardermoen becoming a significant base for SAS, the airline built a 590,000-square-foot complex and technical base. The Scandinavian airline also built two lounges in the passenger terminal. A 230,000-square-foot cargo handling facility was built in cooperation with the Norwegian postal service. With Braathens having its technical base at Stavanger Airport (SVG), it built a large hangar to store six aircraft.

It is estimated that Gardermoen cost more than $3 billion to build. In the last few years, there has been talk of building a third runway. This has been postponed until 2030 as it is not yet needed.

Journalist - Mark is an experienced travel journalist having published work in the industry for more than seven years. His enthusiasm for aviation news and wealth of experience lends itself to some excellent insight, with his work cited in Forbes amongst other publications. Based in Alicante, Spain.

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