 By 1948 , Braathens SAFE 's routes were so regular that several countries stated that a bilateral agreement would have to be negotiated for them to continue . However , the concession that had been granted to DNL did not allow Braathens to fly any scheduled flights . Braathens SAFE applied for fifteen @-@ year concession on 5 February 1948 ; Minister of Transport Nils Langhelle from the Labor Party knew that he would be violating DNL 's concession by granting Braathens SAFE a concession , but at the same time he was worried that Braathens SAFE could easily flag out to another country , from which DNL would receive no protection . The exception in DNL 's concession could not be used , since DNL declared that they , through the Scandinavian cooperation Scandinavian Airlines System ( SAS ) , were planning to start a route to the far east . The Directorate for Civil Aviation stated that it was unlikely that DNL / SAS would start such a route within a few years , and recommended Langhelle that Braathens SAFE be granted the route . Concession was granted by the Norwegian Parliament on 3 February 1949 , with a duration of five years . The airline had to follow the route Oslo or Stavanger – Amsterdam – Geneva – Rome – Cairo – Basra – Karachi – Bombay – Calcutta – Bangkok – Hong Kong . The concession was made conditional that Braathens SAFE built a technical base at Stavanger Airport , Sola . 
