Agderfly

IATA ICAO Call sign — AGD AGDERFLY
Founded	1966
Ceased operations	2004
Operating bases	Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik
Headquarters	Kristiansand, Norway
Key people	Ola Rustenberg (owner)

Agderfly AS was a flight school and airline based in Kristiansand, Norway, which operated from 1966 to 2004. Originally established in Froland, in 1969 it operated out of Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik. Agderfly was owned by Ola Rustenberg, and he was also the head of training.

From 1989 to 1992 the company was split into two, with one part responsible for the flight school and taxi, and the other for scheduled services and charter. It operated two Dornier 228 and flew services from Kristiansand to Gothenburg, Billund and Bremen.

History [edit] Agderfly was established by Ola Rustenberg when he bought a Jodel D.120 in 1966. The company was initially based at Trevann in Froland. Two years later it bought a second aircraft, a Swedish MFI-9BTrainer and started using it for pilot training. Agderfly relocated to Kjevik in 1969.

An accident in 1974 caused Agderfly to replace its MFI with a Beagle Pup. It was replaced with a Robin DR400/160 three years later. It was replaced with a Piper Cherokee Warrior, a Piper Cherokee Archer and a Piper Tomahawk 1979. The same year the company built a hangar. This allowed the operations to expand. First, a Partenavia P.68 was rented, then replaced with two Piper SenecaII. Agderfly signed a contract to fly patients from Vest-Agder Central Hospital to Oslo in 1980.

During the early 1980s, Agderfly shifted its business model. A cooperation was started with Skjelbreds Rederi and the aviation company changed its name to A/S Nortrans Agderfly. During this period the Senecas were sold and replaced with a Piper Navajo Chieftain and a Piper Aztec. For a period, it also leased a Mitsubishi MU-2. Rustenberg bought back the part of the company he didn't own in 1985 and changed the name back to Agderfly. The MU2 was sold in 1987 and replaced with a GA-7 Cougar, a Bellanca Super Decathlon and a Socata Rallye. During this period the pilot school specialized in converting civilian and military pilots to civilian Norwegian certificates, and offered commercial B, C and D theoretical education.

The partnership with Skjelbred resulted in Agderfly seeking to establish itself as a scheduled airline. It applied for a concession to operate between Gothenburg and Kristiansand. This was rejected by the Ministry of Transport in 1986, citing Scandinavian Airlines System's monopoly on inter-Scandinavian routes. However, the regulations were gradually deregulated and on 13 November 1987, the airline was granted its concession.

Agderfly went through a major restructuring to operate the service. It was split into two operating companies, one for the school- and taxi flights, and one for scheduled- and charter flights. This resulted in the ownership of the scheduled and charter flight company being spread out between a series of local investors. Svein Grødum had in late 1989 a 40 per cent ownership, while Thor Tjøntveit owned 30 per cent. Minor owners were Leif Hubert, Oddleiv Eidjord and Einar Øgrey. Twice in 1989, the company issued new shares, increasing its share capital from 1 to 2 million Norwegian krone (NOK).

It opted in late 1988 to buy two Dornier 228 from Norving for the route and charter operation. The same year it received permission to operate a route to Billund Airport in Denmark. The service to Göteborg Landvetter Airport commenced on 26 September 1989, followed by the Billund route on 2 October.

Eidjord became the majority shareholder of the flight company in September 1990, after buying shares from among others Tjøntveit and Grødum. Agderfly Rute Charter received a concession to operate from Kristiansand to Bremen Airport and started these flights in early 1991. In early 1991 the airline wet-leased its aircraft to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to fly relief aid to Turkey and Iran. This and other charter operations were profitable for the company, while the scheduled services ran at a loss.

Eidjord sold his share of the company and Air Express to Petter Ringvold in May 1991. He reorganised the companies so that Agderfly Rute Charter became a subsidiary of Air Express. By September only the Gothenburg route was still being flown, and even it was incurring a loss of NOK 100,000 per month. The airline was futile in its attempts to receive municipal subsidies to cover the operating losses. Agderfly's Rute Charter company filed for bankruptcy on 21 November 1991, citing that it was operating with a loss. At the time it had fourteen employees.

Agderfly's school program was based on the first part of the theory that was taken as correspondence and the second part at the school, a system that had been in place since 1977.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reacted to this in 1990, stating that the correspondence system was not in line with regulations. They did not react to that part of the courses were taken as correspondence, but rather the amount of the material which followed this material. They therefore withdrew Agderfly's approval in 1990. This hindered them from taking up a grade of students, costing them over NOK 1 million.

The school felt that the CAA were not following procedure and sued them. They lost the case in three instances. However, in 1996 the Ministry of Transport stated that the CAA had not followed procedure when closing the school. Following the global decline of the airline market and pilot demand due to the September 11 attacks in 2001, Agderfly failed to fill its courses.

By 2004 operations in Agderfly had ceased, although not liquidated. Rustenberg is trying to establish an aviation university college in Kjevik. The first steps for such approval were granted in 2008.

Fleet

The following aircraft were operated by Agderfly:

Jodel D-120 LN-BNA

MFI 9B Trainer LN-BFL

MFI 9B Trainer LN-BNG

MFI 9B Trainer SE-EUD

Beagle Pup 100 LN-DAT

Robin DR-400-160 Chevalier LN-BEZ

Rallye 100 ST LN-BDU

Bellanca Super Decathlon 8KCAB LN-HOB

Fuji FA-200-160 Aero Subaru LN-TEZ

Piper PA-28-161 Warrior LN-NPS

Piper PA-28-181 Archer LN-NAP

Piper PA-38 Tomahawk LN-VYC

Piper PA-38 Tomahawk LN-BFO

Piper PA-34 Seneca II LN-LGI

Piper PA-34 Seneca II LN-MTS

Piper PA-34 Seneca III LN-KLV

Piper PA-23-250T Aztec LN-MTV

Piper PA-31-350 Chieftain LN-NAF

GA-7 Cougar LN-VYM

Mitshubishi MU-2j LN-MTU

Dornier DO 228-201 LN-NVG

Dornier DO 228-201 LN-NVC

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Accidents and incidents

• A Socata Rallye crashed at Brekkestø on 26 September 1993 during a school flight. Both people on board swam to shore, but the pupil, training for his instructor license, died later that evening of hypothermia.

Bibliography

• Bakken, Rolf; Jæger, Ingrid W.; Krageboen, Sven (1989). Kr.sand lufthavn, Kjevik 50 år 1939–1989 (in Norwegian). Kristiansand. ISBN 82-991887-0-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Hagby, Kay (1998). Fra Nielsen & Winther til Boeing 747 (in Norwegian). Drammen: Hagby. ISBN 8299475201.