 <unk> traveling from Western to Northern Norway had to transfer from Braathens SAFE to SAS in Trondheim . Both airlines saw this as a strategic opportunity to get routes in each other 's territories . On 31 August 1960 , Braathens SAFE applied for an extension of its Bergen – Ålesund – Trondheim route onwards to Bodø Airport and Bardufoss Airport . The two airports had been served by SAS from Oslo via Trondheim . SAS presented estimates that between 2 @.@ 5 and 6 @.@ 1 passengers transferred at Trondheim each day . Braathens SAFE later proposed that they could fly directly from Bergen and Ålesund to Bodø and Bardufoss , but Braathens SAFE 's application was rejected by the ministry . All concessions ended on 31 March 1961 , and the ministry extended them all one year . Three new airports , Alta Airport , <unk> Airport , <unk> and <unk> Airport , <unk> , were about to open and the ministry wanted to award new concessions that included these airports . Braathens SAFE applied to operate to all the airports in Northern Norway , but the contract was awarded to SAS . The latter also applied to operate a route from Northern Norway via Trondheim , Ålesund and Bergen to Stavanger , while Braathens SAFE in 1964 again applied for an extension of the West Coast route to Northern Norway . This was moderated to a direct route from Tromsø Airport to Bergen , which SAS received permission for on 4 March 1965 . 
