using seaplanes, but also noted the possibility of upgrading existing military air stations for civilian use. Scheduled services to Bardufoss started in 1956, with SAS extending its service from Oslo Airport, Fornebu via Trondheim Airport, Værnes to Bodø Airport to Bardufoss. The initial terminal at Bardufoss was half a hangar leased from the air station. Bardufoss was the only land airport north of Bodø and its catchment area included the towns of Tromsø, Harstad and Narvik. Travel time to Narvik was three hours, Harstad was six hours away and Tromsø was by road. The towns were also served by the coastal seaplane route, but it only operated during the summer. Widerøe launched a seaplane route from the water aerodrome to Tromsø, Alta and Hammerfest. This route lasted until 1963. Three times a week SAS operated a night flight from Bardufoss and Bodø to Oslo, with Andøya Airport, Andenes added in 1964, using a Convair Metropolitan. A new terminal opened in 1962. Three airports were opened in Finnmark in 1963, Alta Airport, Lakselv Airport, Banak and Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen, and the service from Bardufoss was extended to those towns. Tromsø Airport opened the following year, reducing the number of services to Bardufoss. SAS flew the Sud Aviation Caravelle to Bardufoss for the first time in 1963 and introduced the Douglas DC-7 in 1965. From 1964 the Norwegian Armed Forces organized its own flights through chartered aircraft. Braathens SAFE received permission in 1967 to extend its West Coast route from Bergen to Trondheim onwards to Bodø, Tromsø and Bardufoss. Widerøe took over some of SAS flights between Bodø, Tromsø, Andenes and Bardufoss in 1971. The terminal was extended in 1972 with a new arrivals hall. SAS introduced a freight aircraft on the route from Oslo to Bodø, Bardufoss and Tromsø from 1982, using a Lockheed L-188 Electra operated by Fred. Olsen Airtransport. The route proved unprofitable and was terminated in 1989. The airport was classified as an international airport until 1985. A new cafeteria opened in the terminal in 1988. The airport served 85,300 passengers in 1990. The Norwegian Aviation College was established at Bardufoss Airport in 1992 as the world's northernmost flight school. It chose the airport because of its difficult weather and terrain in combination with few aircraft movements from commercial aviation. The use of military charter flights was debated from 1976. While they were cost-efficient for the military, merging