them with civilian routes would increase the patronage of scheduled services, which would increase frequency and aircraft size. Coordinate flights were introduced in October 1992 and resulted in three weekly services with SAS to Oslo. A new control tower, costing NOK 55 million, was completed in September 1993. Plans for a new terminal commenced with the coordination of civilian and military flights, which had initially resulted in the old civilian terminal being closed. An early proposal was to build a new arrivals hall and keeping the former military terminal as a departures hall. The airport handled 142,100 passengers in 1997. The armed forces signed an agreement with Braathens, resulting in the airline taking over the three weekly Oslo-services from 1 January 1999. The airport hit a temporary high 190,000 passengers in 2000, largely because of increased military activity. This dropped to 150,000 in 2003. A new terminal opened on 16 January 2004, costing NOK 5.85 million. Construction took four months and the main contractor, Thor Olsen, built the terminal without profits. The old terminal building was demolished free of charge. SAS and Braathens merged in 2004, creating SAS Braathens. The Tromsø bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which published its application in 2007, recommended that Bardufoss Airport be the reserve airport for the event and would function as a secondary airport. Norwegian won the tender for military air transport services from 2008, resulting in the airline commencing flights from Bardufoss to Oslo, with SAS terminating the service. Norwegian issued a tender for ground handling, which resulted in Røros Flyservice winning ahead of the incumbent SAS Ground Services. This resulted in a court case which deemed the action conveyance and forced Røros Flyservice to pay the same wage as in SAS. Røros Flyservice spun operation into the subsidiary Bardufoss Flyservice, which ultimately went bankrupt. SAS operated a summer route from Bardufoss to Oslo each summer from 2010 to 2012. Norwegian started with an intermediate landing in Bodø on one of their daily Oslo flights from 2011. The Ministry of Defence decided in January 2012 to build a new fire station. Estimated to cost between NOK 50 and 100 million, it is scheduled for completion in 2014. Facilities The airport has a runway aligned 10–28 (roughly east–west) with an asphalt surface measuring . It is located at an elevation of above mean sea level. SAS Select Service Partner operates a café at