Transport and Communications decided in 1953 that a new airport should be built at Langnes. Local politicians feared that Bardufoss would remain a permanent solution for Troms. A meeting in the chamber of commerce on 27 January 1955 resulted in a committee being established to lobby for an airfield. This was followed up with the municipality borrowing 350,000 Norwegian krone to expropriate the area. Initial plans for Langnes were for a runway; this would not allow the largest aircraft to land. Local politicians therefore started lobbying national politicians for . After this had been passed, a new lobby campaign was established for a runway, which was chosen. Parliament approved the airport and the necessary funding in 1962 and construction started the following year with Selmer as the contractor. By then it was decided that the runway would measure , including overruns at each end. This allowed SAS to operate its new Sud Aviation Caravelles to Tromsø. The airport was officially opened on 14 September 1964. Operational history Scandinavian Airlines System received concession to operate the route from Oslo to Tromsø. It was organized in such a way that SAS flew direct flights to Troms and then continued onwards to one or more of the three airports in Finnmark. SAS also flew services southwards to Bodø and Trondheim Airport, Værnes. Widerøe relocated its seaplanes in Tromsø to Langnes, stationed at a small water airport on the fjord, adjacent to the terminal building. Widerøe's flights to Finnmark were stopped, but it retained a service to Bardufoss. Widerøe retained this service until 1971, when it closed down its seaplane base in Tromsø. The airport served 20,177 passengers in 1965. Braathens SAFE started flights to Tromsø on 1 April 1967. They were given permission to fly a services from Stavanger, Bergen and Ålesund to Bodø and Tromsø using a Fokker F27 Friendship. Once a week these aircraft continued onwards to Adventdalen's Longyearbyen Airport, as a corporate charter for Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani. This lasted until 1975. That year Svalbard Airport, Longyear opened and the concession was granted to SAS, with Tromsø as an intermediate stop on the way to Oslo. Braathens' coastal route was later taken over by Busy Bee. A network of regional airports opened in Finnmark on 1 August 1974. These were served with de Havilland Canada Twin Otter aircraft operated by Widerøe, with the western end of the service terminating in