A start-up virtual airline plans to launch scheduled flights on eight international routes from Kristiansand, the capital of Vest-Agder county in Southern Norway, from spring next year. Flynonstop intends to operate using an Embraer 190 which will be leased from CIT Aerospace and flown on its behalf by Dutch charter specialist Denim Air.

The venture is backed by Hennig-Olsen Is AS, a family-owned and operated ice cream factory in the Norwegian city. The company has roots back to 1924 when Kristiansand resident Sven Hennig-Olsen learned the art of making ice cream during a stay in Chicago. It opened its factory in 1960 is now under the management of its third generation of Hennig-Olsens.

Speaking at a press conference to mark the launch of the new venture, Espen Hennig-Olsen, formerly Marketing Director at Hennig-Olsen Is AS, acknowledged the entry into the aviation business would be a challenge, but confirmed that research shows a strong demand for direct air links from Kristiansand. “This is going to be a tough game, I’m sure, but it will be fantastic,” he said, according to local newspaper Fædrelandsvennen.

There are currently only limited air services from Kristiansand. The local market is served by Wideroe which has non-stop domestic links to Bergen and Stavanger, Norwegian serves Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim, while SAS Scandinavian Airlines has direct flights to the capital Oslo. International flights are currently provided by Correndon Airlines to Antalya, KLM cityhopper to Amsterdam, SAS to Alicante and Wideroe to Copenhagen.

Flynonstop will more than double international capacity from Kristiansand when it launches in April next year with up to 20 flights per week. The airline will offer a five times weekly link to London City and twice weekly services to Barcelona, Berlin Tegel, Dubrovnik, Nice, Palma, Paris and Parma. The Nice route is expected to grow to a three times weekly basis during the peak summer period. None of these routes have been flown previously, although Norskair did offer links between Kristiansand and London Stansted between October 1991 and November 1992 and Norwegian also served the route between November 2006 and October 2007.

“Like our name suggests, the focus of our business is to link underserved markets in Norway with key cities in Southern and Central Europe without having to make a connection,” said Daniel Lundberg, Chief Executive Officer, Flynonstop. “The E190’s range and size is ideal. We can add frequency and routes without adding too many seats and we can fly nonstop to places with seasonal demand as well as to key business cities.”

For Dutch company Denim Air the agreement with Flynonstop marks a significant development in its own business. The carrier up until now has mainly focused in providing ACMI and charter services using turboprop equipment, but this deal sees it make its first steps into the Embraer E-Jet fleet of aircraft. This, according to a company representative is a “step into the future” for the business as it will open up new market opportunities as it can use its experience on the type “to find new clients for ACMI work”.

The table below highlights the start-ups proposed route network and launch dates for its planned services.