Avinor Oslo Airport saw a huge increase in air cargo in 2017, the biggest volumes of which were exports of fresh Norwegian seafood.
In 2017, 185,000 metric tons (MT) of air cargo was flown in or out of Oslo Airport, an increase of 35 percent compared to the previous year.
“The biggest volumes in air cargo at Oslo Airport are in fresh Norwegian seafood, which is exported to global markets. This is good news for the Norwegian seafood industry, which during last year has increased its competitiveness further, thanks to better connectivity and capacity directly out of Norway,” said Martin Langaas, Avinor’s director of air cargo.
Several new cargo airlines chose to add Oslo Airport into their network last year, and these have helped to reduce the onward journey length of Norwegian seafood and to increase capacity significantly. Atlas Air with direct flights to Seoul, CAL with direct flights to Tel Aviv, Turkish Cargo to Istanbul and DHL with its service between Lakselv and Oslo Airport, were all new routes from Norway’s main airport in 2017.
“Norway generated just under 230,000 MT of seafood as air cargo in 2017. Of this volume, 39 percent flew directly out of Norway from Oslo Airport,” said Langaas.
The remaining 61 percent was transported by trucks to other airports in northern and central Europe, but this is something which Avinor and the seafood industry would like to change.
“We want to ensure that as much seafood as possible can reach its global markets directly from Norway. It saves time and allows the seafood industry to get its products out to the world as quickly as possible. Direct flights for seafood from Oslo Airport will also help to reduce the number of heavy goods vehicle convoys which have to drive from Norway down to Central Europe, where the seafood is loaded onto planes for its onward journeys,” said Langaas.
“The figures for 2017 and the previous year show that there is plenty of appetite in the industry for capacity on direct flights, and that more Norwegian seafood is being flown directly out of Norway. That is important for the Norwegian seafood industry and for value creation throughout Norway.”
