The municipal council voted on 19 June 2008 to not give further subsidies to the airport. Upgrades for NOK 8 million were needed to meet safety standard. The airport operator had debt of NOK 12 million, and no realizable assets. Vildanden was under certain conditions willing to pay some of the capital needed to perform the upgrades. The municipal council changed their opinion and voted—with a single decisive vote—to keep the airport running in July. The financial risk would be taken over by the municipal-owned Kontorbygg, who operate a range of offices and commercial buildings in Skien. The proposal was supported by the right-winged parties, and opposed by the socialist parties, as well as the chair of Kontorbygg. As a response, the Federation of Norwegian Aviation Industries reported the municipality to ESA, and demanded that NOK 20 million in illegal subsidies be repaid by Vildanden and the airport operator. Vildanden terminated its agreement with Aviatrans in April 2009, with the intention of using larger aircraft. In July, an agreement was made with DAT to operate an ATR 42 on the Bergen route. From 1 August, the Stockholm route was terminated. During the winter of 2008–09, Vildanden was forced to land at Sandefjord Airport fifty times due to weather closing Geiteryggen. In March, Widerøe started a marketing campaign to attract people from Grenland to use their routes at Torp. Local Liberal Party politician Gustav Søvde stated that he was opposed to Widerøe advertising in the Telemark press for their services. By October 2009 Vildanden owed Kontorbygg NOK 1.5 million in airport fees. Kontorbygg stated that if Vildanden did not pay, the airport would have to file for bankruptcy. Kontorbygg stated that the operation of Geiteryggen had cost the municipality NOK 50 million in the course of the five years Vildanden had been operating from it. In February 2010, the Municipality of Skien announced that it required Vildanden to pay back the NOK 3.1 million, plus NOK 200,000 in interest, that they borrowed in 2007. The loan was renewed in March, after Vildanden paid NOK 385,000. From 16 August, Helitrans took over as the operator, using an ATR 42. From 6 September the company started with flights to Trondheim. The company ceased operations after its last flight on 14 January 2011. Widerøe era Both Danish regional airline Danish Air Transport (DAT) and Widerøe announced by the end of January 2011 routes to