Havilland Heron for use on their service. Mey-Air showed interest in operating out of Skien in early 1972. Fjellfly went bankrupt in 1972 and Mey-Air withdrew their interest in the routes. Norving era Following an initiative from the municipality, the Kirkenes-based airline Norving announced in January 1975 their intention to operate between Geiteryggen and Oslo and establish a base at Geiteryggen. In July, a contract was signed between the municipality and Norving in which Norving was responsible for operating the airport, including manning the tower and fire service for an annual NOK 125,000 compensation and would operate the service to Fornebu for a minimum of one year. In exchange, the municipality would upgrade the airport. Operation of the route itself would not receive subsidies. Several airlines based in Southern Norway made official complaints to the ministry, largely based on it being unfair for an airline based in Northern Norway to operate a route in Southern Norway. Thus followed concession applications from Partner Air Service, a joint venture between Fjordfly, Norsk Flytjeneste and Paralift Air Service. Norving's concession was granted in January 1976 and was the first time a formal taxi route concession was granted in Norway. This limited the capacity to ten passengers, but unlike a regular concession, the airline did not have an obligation to fly the route. Operations started on 3 May 1976 with two daily round trips using an eight-passenger Britten-Norman Islander. By September, the airline was making 22 round trips and the following month the airline ordered a ten-passenger Cessna 404 Titan to increase capacity. By May 1977, the route had 1167 monthly passengers, five daily round trips Monday through Friday. In early 1976, Norving launched plans for a taxi route between Stavanger Airport, Sola and Skien. It was protested by Haugesund-based Nordsjøfly, who had started linking Haugesund to Stavanger and Bergen, and did not want another regional airline in Rogaland. Both airlines had their applications rejected by the ministry. When the contract to operate Skien Airport was to be renewed in 1978, a local political debate broke out regarding whether the municipality should be subsidizing the airport all the time there was a train service to the capital. The contract was renewed and Norving continued to take advantage of both a free hangar and no landing fees. Following a twenty percent growth on the Oslo–Skien route in 1978, Norving applied to increase the size of