The government is considering cuts to state-subsidised air routes in Northern Norway.
Norway has a sovereign wealth fund that recently passed NOK 20,000 billion. The decision rests with Minister of Transport Kamzy Gunaratnam (Labour), who herself has never lived outside Oslo and does not have a driving licence.
The Ministry of Transport has circulated a proposal on the future of the public service obligation (PSO) routes (FOT-rutene) for consultation. The PSO routes are air routes purchased by the state where commercial operation is not profitable, and are used by around 1.2 million passengers annually.
Under the most extensive option in the consultation, the routes from Vardø, Stokmarknes, Mosjøen and Namsos would be removed from the scheme. In Vardø, the airport could be closed altogether, with the nearest alternative 74 kilometres away in Vadsø. On Røst, the government would replace the air route with a helicopter service.
Wenche Pedersen, chair of the East Finnmark Council (Øst-Finnmarkrådet) and Labour mayor of Vadsø, sharply criticises her own party colleague in the government.
– Drop the flight cuts, Kamzy! Listen instead to the many political submissions rather than an economic report in which the calculator gets to decide, Pedersen tells Klassekampen.
Never lived outside the urban areas
Gunaratnam was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, and came to Norway at the age of three. She grew up in Groruddalen in Oslo, served for 14 years on Oslo City Council, six of them as Deputy Mayor, and has represented Oslo in the Norwegian Parliament since 2021. She is the first Minister of Transport from Oslo this century, and has never obtained a driving licence.
When she was appointed in September, business leaders in western Norway warned about precisely this. Harald Minge, CEO of the Stavanger Region Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that transport is one of the ministerial portfolios most strongly influenced by where the minister herself comes from.
Cuts for the second time in a year
This is not the first time the government has attempted cuts to the PSO routes. In May, a majority in the Norwegian Parliament, consisting of eight parties excluding Labour, overruled the government’s proposal for higher prices and reduced air capacity in Southern Norway. Gunaratnam was at the time sceptical that the majority would actually remain united.
Pedersen believes the government’s proposal now makes something that is already inadequate even worse. The direct route between Vadsø and Tromsø has disappeared, and travellers today have to travel via Kirkenes or Alta, often with an overnight stay.
The PSO scheme was also supposed to provide lower prices. According to Pedersen, this does not happen in practice.
– Large companies such as Equinor reserve many seats to and from Hammerfest. The tourism industry books early, and the Armed Forces probably do the same. This means that ordinary people have to pay a great deal to get on the plane, she says.
Pedersen stresses that air services and settlement in rural areas are also a matter of emergency preparedness.
Social scientist Jonas Stein at UiT The Arctic University of Norway points out that the five airports that could be affected are in very different situations. For Røst, the airport is the very lifeline of the community, while Namsos has the alternative of a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Værnes.
