Editing Molde Airport (section)

===Deregulation===
[[File:Scandinavian Commuter F50 at Molde.jpg|thumb|[[Scandinavian Commuter]] [[Fokker 50]]]]
Traffic hit 201,864 passengers in 1993.<ref name=h104 /> That year Busy Bee folded and their regional routes were taken over by Norwegian Air Shuttle, using the [[Fokker 50]].<ref>Hovde: 101</ref> The airline market was deregulated on 1 April 1994; thereafter any airline was free to fly any route in Norway. SAS chose initially to not take up the competition with Braathens out of Molde, and the only immediate effect was a slight hike in ticket prices.<ref name="Hovde: 105">Hovde: 105</ref> Later that year Braathens increased from three to four daily services to [[Oslo Airport, Fornebu]].<ref name="Hovde: 105"/> An air show was held at the airport on 30 June 1996, but it proved a failure due to overcast weather.<ref name=h107>Hovde: 107</ref> The control tower was upgraded in 1997. As an interim solution a temporary tower was erected to serve in its place.<ref>Hovde: 109</ref>

From 1 September 1997 security controls were introduced on a limited number of domestic passengers and all international passengers. This led to the physical separation of the check-in and departure halls. For passengers this had a dramatic effect on travel times. Passengers without check-in baggage had previously been able to meet at the airport five to ten minutes before boarding time and reach their aircraft. Security controls became a bottle-neck, with peaks just before departures and otherwise minimal traffic. Long queues were commonplace.<ref name=h107 />

[[Molde FK]] had a good spell in [[European football]] before and after the turn of the millennium. Chartered aircraft with players and supporters attending games at [[Molde stadion]] normally constituted the bulk of international passengers at the airport in these years.<ref name=h124>Hovde: 124</ref> The Danish carriers [[Muk Air]] and [[Scan Con Airways]] flew charter services from Molde to [[Aalborg Airport]] and [[Thisted Airport]], respectively during the summer of 2000. Muk operated a [[Shorts 360]] while Scan Con operated an [[Embraer 110 Bandeirante]]. The airport served 311,988 passengers that year,<ref>Hovde: 115</ref> but fell the following years as part of the general slump in the aviation market.<ref name=h124 />

Braathens was bought by SAS and became part of the [[SAS Group]] on 1 September 2002. That day [[SAS Ground Services]] took over ground handling at the airport.<ref name=h124 /> [[SAS Commuter]] look over Norwegian Air Shuttle's regional routes on 31 March 2003. Norwegian instead relaunched itself as a [[low-cost carrier]]. It opened a route from Molde to Oslo using a [[Boeing 737 Classic|Boeing 737-300]] from 19 June. It flew once a day during the afternoon. Although featuring low prices, its inconvenient time slot left it with few passengers, especially business travelers. Norwegian pulled out of the route in January 2004. The first [[inclusive tour]] (IT) charter was started by Apollo on 14 June to [[Crete]]. It was flown weekly by a [[Boeing 737 Next Generation|Boeing 737-700]] operated by Braathens.<ref>Hovde: 127</ref> Combined the football and IT charters drew 3,037 international passengers to the airport in 2003.<ref>Hovde: 130</ref>

Molde's first airline was Classic Norway Air, established with a [[Jetstream 31]] in 2004. Its business idea was to fly tourists staying at their resorts in Romsdal. Braathens merged with Scandinavian Airlines in Norway to create [[SAS Braathens]] that year. They introduced Molde's first international route, to [[Barcelona]], six Sundays starting 20 June.<ref>Hovde: 133</ref> Work on the gas terminal at [[Nyhamna]] in Gossen started in May 2004. With many construction workers from other parts of the country and abroad, it brought an increase to traffic at the airport.<ref name=h137>Hovde: 137</ref> Most of this flying was subcontracted to [[Atlantic Airways]]. They flew up to two daily charter flights to [[Gdańsk]] as well as weekly services to [[Inverness]], [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne|Newcastle]], [[Billund, Denmark|Billund]], Bergen, [[Leirvik|Stord]], and [[Stavanger (city)|Stavanger]].<ref name=h141>Hovde: 141</ref>

IT charter services to [[Las Palmas]] commenced on 28 October 2005. Work on a new operations building started in December, costing 60 million kroner.<ref name=h137 /> [[Coast Air]] introduced services from Molde to Haugesund, Bergen and Trondheim in 2006 and [[West Air Sweden]] won the contract to fly the post. SAS Braathens had by then increased to five daily flights to Oslo and reached a load factor of ninety percent.<ref name=h141 />

Work on the extension of the runway started on 31 January 2007, involving the moving of {{convert|700000|m3|sp=us}} of earthwork. The runway was extended westwards, causing a new ILS system to be installed in that direction. Costing 57 million kroner, the work saw the strip extended by {{convert|379|m|sp=us}} to {{convert|2120|m|sp=us}}. The extension opened on 1 July 2008. Although this allowed for longer take-off runs, the landing distances were unaffected.<ref name=h147>Hovde: 147</ref> This allows the airport to serve as large aircraft as the [[Boeing 757|Boeing 757-200]] on a trans-Atlantic route.<ref name=h152>Hovde: 152</ref>

[[Vildanden (airline)|Vildanden]] introduced a daily service to [[Skien Airport, Geiteryggen]] on 26 February 2007. They never reached their target ridership and terminated the route in November. With the completion of Nyhamna in the summer, ridership at the airport began to fall,<ref name="h147"/> dropping by 110,000 in 2008. Ving and Star Tour introduced winter IT charters to Las Palmas from October. This spurred the need for a larger terminal, with construction starting in March 2008. When completed, it could handle a full 180-seat Boeing 737-800 at both the domestic and international sections simultaneously. It also featured a [[duty-free shop]].<ref>Hovde: 151</ref>

[[Centralwings]] started a scheduled service to [[Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport]] and [[Warsaw Chopin Airport|Warsaw Airport]] on 18 February 2009. Unstable use caused it to be terminated in April.<ref name=h152 /> Norwegian resumed flights from Oslo to Molde on 20 August, this time using their 737-800s twice daily. SAS responded by reducing their services from five to three daily flights. Norwegian thereafter, from 1 September, introduced a third daily service. Between them ridership increased by twenty percent. [[Røros Flyservice]] was established at the airport to provide ground handling for Norwegian.<ref name="Hovde: 156">Hovde: 156</ref>

SAS terminated its Trondheim service from 1 February 2010. Within days [[Krohn Air]] was established to operate the route, using a [[wet lease]]d 32-passenger [[Dornier 328]]. SAS Commuter terminated its West Coast operations in June 2010 and transferred these to [[Widerøe]], who introduced 50- and 74-seat [[Bombardier Dash 8]]-300s and -400, respectively.<ref name="Hovde: 169">Hovde: 169</ref> Korhn Air introduced flights to Bergen from 31 August.<ref name=tilbergen>{{cite news |url=http://www.rbnett.no/lokal/molde/article248072.ece |title=Krohn-åpning til Bergen |last=Torvik |first=Egil H. |work=[[Romsdals Budstikke]] |date=31 August 2010 |language=no |access-date=12 November 2010 |archive-date=18 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718023128/http://www.rbnett.no/lokal/molde/article248072.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> It followed up in September with flights to [[Stavanger Airport, Sola]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boarding.no/art.asp?id=43066 |title=Krohn Air starter Molde - Stavanger |work=Boarding.no |date=7 September 2010 |access-date=15 October 2011 |language=no |archive-date=13 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013211637/http://boarding.no/art.asp?id=43066 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Both the Stavanger and Bergen flights were unprofitable and terminated on 19 November 2010.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rbnett.no/lokal/molde/article281789.ece |title=Legg ned Bergensruta |last=Vingen |first=Anita |work=[[Romsdals Budstikke]] |date=12 November 2010 |language=no |access-date=12 November 2010 |archive-date=18 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718023308/http://www.rbnett.no/lokal/molde/article281789.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

A further terminal extension was completed in 2012, consisting of {{convert|570|m2|sp=us}}, mostly as a new second story.<ref>Hovde: 181</ref> Of this, {{convert|200|m2|sp=us}} features a duty-free store.<ref name=h183>Hovde: 183</ref> Krohn Air ceased all operations on 4 February 2014, and filed for bankruptcy the following day.<ref name=torvik>{{cite news |url=http://www.rbnett.no/nyheter/article9083769.ece |title=Krohn Air er konkurs |last=Torvik |first=Egil |work=[[Romsdals Budstikke]] |date=5 February 2014 |language=no |access-date=6 February 2014 }}</ref><ref name="ch-a_Norw">{{Cite news| title = Norway's Krohn Air suspends operations, files for bankruptcy| work = ch-aviation| date = 2014-02-06| access-date = 2014-08-28| url = http://ch-aviation.com/portal/news/25461-norways-krohn-air-suspends-operations-files-for-bankruptcy}}</ref> Widerøe commenced flights on the Molde–Trondheim route from 1 September 2014.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/moreromsdal/article9831727.ece |title=Starter direkterute til Molde|last1=Midtbø |first1=Mia Kristin |last2=Cadamateri |first2=Frank |work=[[Adresseavisen]] |date=20 June 2014 |language=no |access-date=20 June 2014 |archive-date=20 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140620213925/http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/moreromsdal/article9831727.ece |url-status=live}}</ref> Wizz Air introduced two weekly flights from [[Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport|Gdańsk Airport]] to Molde starting 30 March 2015.<ref>{{cite news |title=Til Polen for 199 kr |last=Torvik |first=Egil H. |work=[[Romsdals Budstikke]] |language=no}}</ref>