A summer programme of flights between Shetland and Oslo has had a successful take off, carrying more than 150 passengers in its first week.

The Norwegian regional airline Wideroe, a division of Scandinavian Airlines SAS, is operating a six-week programme of two flights a week between Sumburgh Airport and Oslo until mid-August. The airline is using 50-seat Dash 8 regional turboprop aircraft on the route.

The service, which started on Sunday 4th July and operates on Sundays and Thursdays, has already carried more than 150 passengers on its first two return journeys. Both inbound and outbound bookings are good for the rest of the summer programme.

Carole Laignel, Assistant Manager at Sumburgh Airport, said: “Wideroe’s summer flights are being well supported by people travelling from Shetland and inbound visitors from Norway. There are strong cultural and business links between Shetland and Scandinavia and the direct flights between Sumburgh and Oslo hjave been great news for us. We are delighted with this and certainly hope the airline will consider expanding the programme in 2005.”

Alex Johnson, Commercial and Marketing Manager at HIAL, said: “We believe there is potential to build more air links between Shetland, Scandinavia and the Faroes and a successful summer programme with Wideroe is a move towards this.”

In the year ending 31 March 2004, Sumburgh Airport handled more than 117,000 passengers and 8,500 aircraft movements.

ENDS