Would you be willing to shell out thousands of kroner for a relatively short flight between two Norwegian cities?
This is the reality of most people who live in the far north of our country.
Because where the mountains are dense and there are no train tracks, flying is one of the few ways to get over longer distances.
Now an ever-growing group is taking up the fight against the sky-high prices.
REBEL: Maiken Garder lives in Hammerfest. A flight to the capital can cost well over NOK 10,000. Photo: TS FotoDesign (Tanja Skoglund).
Several thousand members
– In the past, it was possible to get the occasional cheap ticket for under a thousand on the short-haul network. They no longer exist, says Maiken Garder from Hammerfest.
She has created the Facebook group “People’s uprising against sky-high flight prices on the short-haul network”. In a short time, she has gathered several thousand members.
In the group, members share experiences about how difficult it is to travel, without having to pay high sums.
– There are heartbreaking stories about people who don’t make it to funerals. About grandparents who have not seen their grandchildren for several years, Garder tells TV 2.
For an ordinary family, a flight to southern Norway can cost as much as NOK 30,000.
– But those in the south get a two-week holiday to the South for the same price, says Garder.
It is not only between north and south that is expensive. Traveling from one airport on the short-haul network to another can also cost many thousands.
TRAVEL: The world is much more accessible to those who can travel from Oslo Airport than from a small airport in the north, believes Maiken Garder. Photo: Heiko Junge/NTB.
Garder believes that those who live on the short-haul network in Northern Norway and North-West Norway are cut off from the rest of society.
Now she fears that people will move.
– You cannot live in a place when you have no contact with the rest of the world. It doesn’t last long, says Garder.
– Start
Maiken Garder and the rest of the members of the group receive support from the Progress Party’s Dagfinn Olsen.
– We completely agree. It is far too expensive as it is. We must remember that this is the public transport service for those who live outside the district, says the Storting representative.
SUPPORTERS: Dagfinn Olsen, parliamentary representative in the Progressive Party, wants cheaper flight prices in the north. Photo: Annika Byrde/NTB.
He believes the government just has to initiate measures.
– We have tickets for Routes in Oslo on which there are more or less 60 per cent subsidies. Widerøe’s flights in Nordland have an average of 25 per cent subsidies. Here you can lift, says Olsen.
Siv Mossleth, parliamentary representative for the Center Party, explains that the high flight prices are due to the fact that there are too few people who travel by air in northern Norway.
It is simply not profitable for the airlines to offer cheap flights, as they do in southern Norway.
ON THE ISSUE: Siv Mossleth (Sp) says the government parties are working to lower airfares on the short-haul network. Photo: Frode Hoff / TV 2
Unclear future
– It is good that this issue is being raised. The high prices of the short-haul network are one of the reasons why the Center Party will be in government, says Mossleth.
She makes it clear that the governing parties must prioritize flight prices in the north going forward.
TOUR: SP leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum visited Honningsvåg airport in Finnmark during the election campaign in 2021. Partifelle Siv Mossleth promises change, but will not say when. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB
– Our aim is to get better offers, and halve the prices where it is not commercially profitable to fly.
But exactly when these changes will come, Mossleth will not answer.
– We have a promise that it will happen during this government period, and I am working to ensure that it happens as soon as possible.
