6.3 million Norwegian krone in 1997, making a profit of one million. The company sourced seventy percent of its revenue from the newspaper contracts. The main ad hoc charter contractors were the Norwegian Geological Survey and the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management. A Piper PA-34 Seneca was added to the fleet in 1998. Kato Air announced plans in October 1998 to establish a scheduled route from Harstad/Narvik to Bodø and Tromsø. The background was that Widerøe was no longer flying this route. Kato Air cooperated with the Stjørdal-based airline Helitrans, who had a surplus of Dornier 228. One of these was taken over by Kato Air, who christened it Bjørnfjell; the other was leased. They had 16 and 19 seats, respectively. The route commenced on 7 December 1998. Each leg had a morning and afternoon round trip on weekdays, as well as an evening flight on Sundays. Kato Air bought ground services from Scandinavian Airlines at Harstad/Narvik and from Widerøe in Bodø and Tromsø. The arrangement ultimately resulted in Kato Air taking over the entire fixed-wing division of Helitrans, who remained with only helicopter operations. Patronage on the route was too low to keep the route running, and it was terminated in November 1999. A contributing factor was an imported fast ferry service to Tromsø. The Dorniers were subsequently mostly used for charters with oil companies, with Statoil being a dominant customer. Of particular importance was a charter route with the oil company from Trondheim Airport, Værnes to Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy. For a period starting in February 2002 the airline also flew a charter route from Trondheim to Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget. Starting 1 April 2003 Kato Airline took over two public service obligation routes, which received subsidies from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Both were out of Bodø, one to Røst Airport and the other to Narvik Airport, Framnes—the downtown airport serving Narvik. The same year the airline won four-year contract with Norway Post to operate postal flights from Trondheim to Bodø, Harstad/Narvik and Tromsø. Kato Airline was allowed to operate the route with a Dornier 228, a significantly smaller aircraft than the incumbent de Havilland Canada Dash 8 used by Widerøe. By December both routes had seen a drastic fall in patronage. Røst Municipal Council came with a statement criticizing the ministry for allowing such aircraft, stating that the lacked among other amenities accessibility, pressure cabin, weather radar,