FlyNonstop

Espen Hennig-Olsen owned a third of the ice cream-manufacturer Hennig-Olsen along with his brothers Paal and Martin. Espen sold his third to the others in 2011 as part of an option they had come to agree on previously and received a payment of 54.7 million Norwegian krone. He also quit as director of marketing in the company.{{cite news |title=Gir iskrempenger vinger |last=Michaelsen |first=Ingrid |work=Fædrelandsvennen |date=17 October 2012 |page=14 |language=Norwegian}}

File:Flynonstop airline kristiansand IMG 1535.JPG

Hennig-Olsen announced the airline on 16 October 2012. He stated that the company needed a passenger load factor of sixty-five percent to break even. Operations commenced on 25 April 2013 with eight destinations.{{cite news |title=Stram regi, god mat |last=Michaelsen |first=Ingrid |date=17 October 2012 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=15 |language=Norwegian}} The background for the establishment was the opportunity to serve direct flights out of Kjevik. The airport, which has a catchment area of 300,000 people in Agder, was amongst the busiest in the country with a limited international services.{{cite news |title=Lokalpatriotisme – nonstop |last=Lunde-Borgersen |first=Ole |date=18 October 2012 |work=Kristiansand Avis |page=2 |language=Norwegian}} International services were at the time limited to Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Hennig-Olsen hoped to provide a comparable service to that of other airports centered in regional centers. People living in Agder were therefore forced to use Stavanger Airport, Sola; Sandefjord Airport, Torp or Oslo Airport, Gardermoen for most international flights.{{cite news |url=http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/10/16/tema/reise/fly/flynonstop/hennig-olsen/23899183/ |title=Dette er Norges aller nyeste flyselskap |last=Løken |first=Petter |work=Dagbladet |date=16 October 2012 |accessdate=17 October 2012 |archivedate=18 October 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018200159/http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/10/16/tema/reise/fly/flynonstop/hennig-olsen/23899183/ |url-status=live }}

The airline received NOK 600,000 in municipal support from Kristiansand's defunct Kjevik Council in January 2013. It was intended to make the route more attractive for foreign tourists to visit Agder.{{cite news |title=Pengestøtte til å lokke utlendinger |date=11 January 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=10 |language=Norwegian}} They also received a start-up discount from the airport operator Avinor. This consisted of NOK 150,000 annually in a cash discount for the first three years, a 40-percent discount on passenger fees and no landing fees the first year.{{cite news |title=Får oppstartstøtte fra Avinor |last=Reite |first=Kjetil |date=18 May 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=18 |language=Norwegian}} FlyNonstop announced on 25 February that they would commence services out of Ålesund Airport, Vigra to Nice.{{cite news |title=Direktefly fra Vigra til Nice |date=26 February 2013 |work=Romsdals Budstikke |page=11 |language=Norwegian}}

File:Fly_Nonstop_Embraer-190.jpg parked at Maastricht Aachen Airport in 2013]]

The brand new Embraer 190 was delivered on 16 April.{{cite news |title=Sparer fem årsverk på å fjerne flyseter |last=Damsgaard |first=Vegard |date=17 April 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=12 |language=Norwegian}} By using an aircraft with only 100 seats, FlyNonstop hoped to fill up the aircraft to destinations without sufficient patronage to fill larger aircraft from competitors like Norwegian Air Shuttle and Scandinavian Airlines.{{cite news |url=http://e24.no/naeringsliv/flynonstop-gjoer-seg-klar-til-takeoff/20346551 |title=Flynonstop gjør seg klar til takeoff |last=Grhamar |first=Stine |work=E24 Næringsliv |language=Norwegian |date=16 March 2013 |accessdate=21 December 2014}} Operations commenced on 25 April with five weekly flights to London and two weekly flights each to Barcelona, Berlin, Dubrovnic, Nice, Parma, Paris and Palma de Mallorca.

The airline announced in late April that it planned to build a hangar at Kjevik and that it had made an agreement with Avinor to rent a lot. The structure was estimated to cost between NOK 5 and 10 million.{{cite news |title=Flynonstop vil bygge hangar på Kjevik |last=Damsgaard |first=Vegard |date=30 April 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=14 |language=Norwegian}} The Ålesund to Nice flights commenced on 13 June. The same week the Kristiansand flights to Berlin and Paris were terminated for the remainder of the summer, resuming in late August. Few people took city holidays during the summer months and instead FlyNonstop allocated flights to Mediterranean holiday destinations.{{cite news |title=Kutter Paris og Berlin |last=Uleberg |first=Odd-Inge Rønning |date=28 May 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=3 |language=Norwegian}}

FlyNonstop announced from June 2013 and onwards a series of new routes which were scheduled to commence in 2014. This included a route from Ålesund to St. Gallen–Altenrhein Airport in Switzerland from January 2014.{{cite news |title=Fra Ålesund til Sveits |date=1 June 2013 |work=Tidens Krav |page=1 |language=Norwegian}} From Alta Airport the airline planned a route to London, primarily targeting English tourists to Norway.{{cite news |title=Satser mange millioner på London-rute |last=Reginiussen |first=Arne |date=13 August 2013 |work=Altaposten] |page=4 |language=Norwegian}} The airline also articulated plans that the route from Alta to Oslo might be suitable as a domestic route.{{cite news |title=Vurderer å fly Alta-Oslo |last=Reginiussen |first=Arne |date=23 August 2013 |work=Altaposten] |page=2 |language=Norwegian}} From Bodø Airport the airline also planned a London route starting 1 November 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.dagbladet.no/2013/10/29/nyheter/innenriks/flyselskap/konkurs/30033214/ |title=Iskremflyet smeltet etter seks måneder i lufta |last=Andersen |first=Øystein |date=29 October 2013 |language=Norwegian |accessdate=22 December 2014}} From Kristiansand the airline planned new routes to St. Gallen, Gazipasa, Santorini, Dublin, Stockholm and Manchester.{{cite news |title=Flynonstop dropper Stockholm |last=Olsbu |first=Erlend |date=14 October 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=10 |language=Norwegian}}

Up until 30 September the airline had an income of NOK 40 million and costs of NOK 73 million.{{cite news |title=Det er irriterende at pessimistene som sa det ikke lot seg gjøre fikk rett |last=Ankersen |first=Roald |date=25 April 2014 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=19 |language=Norwegian}} FlyNonstop ceased all flights on 29 October 2013 and filed for bankruptcy.{{cite news |url=http://ch-aviation.ch/portal/news/22921-norwegian-virtual-carrier-flynonstop-files-for-bankruptcy |title=Norwegian virtual carrier FlyNonstop files for bankruptcy |date=29 October 2013 |publisher=CH Aviation |accessdate=22 December 2014}} The airline received a load factor of 69 percent on the London and Dubrovnik routes in July, but had insufficient patronage on other routes. On average the airline needed an extra 13 passengers per flight to break even. The company had a debt of NOK 53 million at the time of bankruptcy, of which NOK 30 million was to Hennig-Olsen's Tamburin Invest. He stated that he had lost about half his fortune on the airline.{{cite news |title=Fra 60 mill. til konkurs |last=Berglihn |first=Harald |date=30 October 2013 |work=Dagens Næringsliv |page=9 |language=Norwegian}} The largest uncovered debt was NOK 7.8 million to Denim Air.{{cite news |title=Antiklimaks i tingretten for gründeren |last=Reinertsen |first=Rune Øidne |date=7 December 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=20 |language=Norwegian}}

FlyNonstop was the trading name for Ansic AS, a limited company entirely owned by Espen Hennig-Olsen. It was a virtual airline, thus not operating any aircraft itself and wet-leasing operations. The company was therefore prohibited for marketing themselves as an "airline" and instead had to refer to themselves as a "travel company".{{cite news |url=http://www.fvn.no/okonomi/Far-ikke-kalle-seg-flyselskap-2302956.html |title=Får ikke kalle seg flyselskap |last=Ankersen |first=Roald |work=Fædrelandsvennen |date=17 October 2012 |accessdate=17 October 2012 |archivedate=21 October 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021031308/http://www.fvn.no/okonomi/Far-ikke-kalle-seg-flyselskap-2302956.html |url-status=live }} FlyNonstop operated using a 100-passenger Embraer 190 which was leased from CIT Group and flown on its behalf by Dutch charter specialist Denim Air. The aircraft was named Elias.{{cite news |title=Snart er Elias på vingene |last=Ljosland |first=Svein Arthur |date=22 March 2013 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=16 |language=Norwegian}}

The aircraft featured a lenient seat pitch with 100 passengers in a single-class configuration. Tickets were sold in two classes, "best price" and "flex price". Prices varied from NOK 1798 to 4998 per round trip. In-flight entertainment was provided with an iPad on each seat.{{cite news |title=Nå får Sørlandet sitt eget flyselskap |last=Reinertsen |first=Rune Øidne |date=17 October 2012 |work=Fædrelandsvennen |page=15 |language=Norwegian}} Complimentary in-flight meals were made in Kristiansand by Bølgen & Moi using local food, with the menus based on the cuisine of the destination. By having only 100 seats, the airline only needed two cabin crew on board. This allowed the company to limit the number of such crew to ten.

FlyNonstop was based at Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik. It also flew a limited number of flights from Ålesund Airport, Vigra. Flights were carried out to premium airports in each city.

FlyNonstop's fleet consisted of one plane throughout its operating history:

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|FlyNonstop}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://flynonstop.no Official site] at the Wayback Machine

{{Airlines of Norway}}

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Category:2013 disestablishments in Norway

Category:Companies based in Kristiansand

Category:Norwegian companies established in 2012