) is an international airport serving the town of Kristiansund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is situated at Kvernberget on the island of Nordlandet in Kristiansund Municipality. It is the sole scheduled airport serving the Nordmøre district within Møre og Romsdal. The airport features a runway aligned 07/25. In addition to scheduled services operated by Scandinavian Airlines and Widerøe, it serves offshore helicopter traffic to the Norwegian Sea operated by CHC Helikopter Service. Kvernberget handled 314,084 passengers in 2018.
Kvernberget was the second airport to open in Møre og Romsdal, with flights commencing on 1 July 1970. Until 2004 the main portion of flights was provided by Braathens SAFE, which flew both coastal flights and to Oslo. The first helicopter terminal opened in 1982 and a new passenger terminal was completed in 1989. A second helicopter terminal opened in 1994. The runway was extended from the original to the current length in 2012. A new terminal was completed in 2017.
History
The first airline services to Kristiansund were part of the Bergen to Trondheim route which Norwegian Air Lines (DNL) established in 1935. These called at Ålesund, Molde and Kristiansund. The latter had its water aerodrome located at the port in the town center. The services were only flown during the winter. DNL resumed its routes in 1948, and Lufttransport commenced a service via Ålesund Airport, Sørneset to Oslo. From 1949 these were both taken over by West Norway Airlines, which lasted until the airline folded in 1957.
thumb|left|[[Scandinavian Airlines Boeing 737]]
The Luftwaffe nearly completed Aukra Airport, Gossen during the Second World War and in the 1950s the authorities decided to complete the facility and establish it as a central airport for Møre og Romsdal. Local initiative in Ålesund convinced Parliament in 1957 that Ålesund Airport, Vigra should be built instead. It opened in 1958. This airport was by Parliament considered as sufficient for all of the county and the seaplane routes were terminated the same season.
Proposals for an airport in Kristiansund were first launched in 1954, with Kvernberget as the preferred site and at an estimated investment cost of 6.5 million Norwegian krone. It had however been placed on hold due to the Gossen plans. In both Molde and Kristiansund there was displeasure with the choice of Vigra and both municipalities established airport commissions in 1959 to look into building their own airports. Kristiansund's commission was led by William Dall and the same year the municipality bought a lot at Kvernberget to reserve it for a future aerodrome. The routes were flown using Fokker F27 Friendship turboprops and Fokker F28 Fellowship turbojets. Widerøe included Kristiansund as part of its coastal network which extended to Ørland Airport and southwards to the regional airports in Sogn og Fjordane. Kvernberget handled 88,246 passengers in 1971, but after Molde opened so high a figure was not reached again until 1985.
At the turn of the decade the debate about the need for two airports to serve Nordmøre and Romsdal resumed, spurred by the Kristiansund Fixed Link which removed the only ferry between the two towns, but the debate soon died down again. A new helicopter terminal opened the same year. Helicopter services continued to make up an increasingly important part of the patronage – 26 percent in 1997 and 47 percent in 2007.
Braathens SAFE introduced services from Kristiansund to Stavanger in 1997, due to the increased oil traffic. Also Aberdeen, Scotland, became an important destination, and there were regular charter flights between the cities, up to five a week. City Star Airlines operated a scheduled route between the two cities from 2005 until the airline folded in 2008.
thumb|left|[[Widerøe Bombardier Dash 8 (closest) and Scandinavian Airlines Boeing 737 at the airport]]
SAS Commuter took over Norwegian Air Shuttle's services from 1 April 2003. Braathens merged to create SAS Braathens in May 2004, with the new airline taking over the Oslo route. It passed on the Scandinavian Airlines in 2007. City Star Airlines commenced the first international route, to Aberdeen Airport, on 10 October 2005 using a Dornier 328. The route lasted until February 2008.
A duty-free shop was opened in 2007.
thumb|The airport's [[catchment area (red) and areas which are in equilibrium between Kristiansund Airport and Molde Airport, Årø (blue)]]
SAS Commuter's routes to Bergen and Trondheim were taken over by Widerøe in 2010. BMI Regional introduced a daily round trip with an Embraer 135 from Kristiansund to Aberdeen on 28 August 2013, targeting the oil industry. The airline commenced a domestic route on 23 January 2014, to Stavanger Airport, Sola. This route was terminate din May the same year.
Facilities
Kristiansund Airport is located on the ridge of Kvernberget, a hill on the island of Nordlandet in Kristiansund, Norway. Owned and operated by the state-owned Avinor, it is the sole airport with scheduled services in Nordmøre. It features an asphalt runway with physical dimensions aligned 07/25. It has a takeoff run available (TORA) of on runways 07 and 25, respectively, and a landing distance available (LDA) of . It is equipped with a category I instrument landing system in both directions. The airport is equipped with category 7 fire and rescue service. There is no parallel taxiway.
Airlines and destinations
The busiest route is provided by Scandinavian Airlines, which provides two daily departures to Oslo using mostly Airbus A320neo aircraft. Flights along the West Coast to Bergen Airport are provided by Widerøe using Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. There are also some seasonal charter services. In 2018, Kvernberget airport served 314,084 passengers and had 10,441 aircraft movements.
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Statistics
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Annual passenger traffic
! Year
! Passengers
! % Change
|-
|2025||366,834|| 12.3%
|-
|2024||326,798|| 13.0%
|-
|2023||289,304|| 3.0%
|-
|2022||280,972|| 42.5%
|-
|2021||197,126|| -5.6%
|-
|2020||208,830|| -35.9%
|-
|2019||325,594|| 3.7%
|-
|2018||314,084|| 4.8%
|-
|2017||299,710|| -1.3%
|-
|2016||303,505|| -17.1%
|-
|2015||366,292||
|}
Ground transport
The airport is situated drive from the town center, just off National Road 70. Fram operates two bus services past the airport, each which run twice an hour. Travel time is about twenty-five minutes. There is paid parking for 350 vehicles. Taxis and car rental is available.