Charter flights and cruises to watch the Bodo/Glimt match against Molde in the Cup Final – NRK Nordland

Cup finals are rarely expensive for Bodo/Glimt.

The last time they engaged was in 2003.

So there is a lot of interest in heading south for a big fight. It made people creative.

Both seaplanes and private charter planes are available to color Ullevål Stadium yellow.

– Too bad to be left in Bodo

In 2020, Bodø/Glimt became the first North Norwegian team to win the Elite Series in men’s soccer.

This was repeated in 2021, and the club became the sixth team to win the First Division two years in a row.

But nearly 20 years passed between each time the club played a cup final. The club became the cup champion for the first time in 1975 and the second time in 1993.

Therefore, all flights between Bodo and Oslo in the days leading up to the match are fully booked.

It made Bodo’s business community look for alternative solutions to attract supporters to the capital.

Jan Helgesen, owner and general manager of Joker Vestbyen in Bodø, took matters into his own hands and chartered a plane for over a million kroner.

“I thought it too bad he left so many supporters here in Bodo,” says Helgesen, better known as Joker Jan.

We have to get as many people as possible to Oslo, so we are sure that Glimt will win the match.

For regular flights fully booked. And although private planes are available, there is no crew to manage them.

That’s why Helgesen looked to one of our neighbors: Finland.

– I had the idea of ​​calling a friend in Finland. So now they’ve got a plane that can carry 109 passengers.

Hydroplane to the Cup Final

Saltenfly, Norway’s smallest airline, has also supplied its seaplane.

Vegard Bøthun is Saltenfly’s general manager and pilot if anyone chooses this transfer to the cup final. But so far, many have been intimidated by the price.

– Several of them have asked and seemed interested, but this costs a lot more than traveling with SAS or Norwegian.

– Do you have beer and wine service on board then?

– I can bring a thermos with coffee, says Bothon.

– But do you land in the Oslo Strait since it’s a seaplane?

– We can land on the runway or on the water. We either landed on the runway at Keeler, or at Fornebu where there is a seaplane port.

– By no means our core business

Sparebank1 Nord-Norge is also among those who have thrown themselves into creating a charter plane.

– The cup final came like Christmas Eve for the old woman, as it was shortly after the semi-finals, says Stein Vidar Loftus at Sparebank1 Nord-Norge.

They have now put up a plane carrying about 200 passengers.

How common are you as a banker to rent flights to football events?

– Chartering planes is by no means our primary business, but we are not particularly spoiled by the fact that football teams from Northern Norway are in Ullevål, even if we would like to.

– When there are special occasions like this we think it’s amazing to be able to help color Ullevål yellow.

– But you are a bank with a lot of money, so why aren’t there cheaper tickets?

– There will always be a calculation, but the amount paid by those who buy plane tickets with us is very close to their cost. Of course, we don’t make any money from this, says Loftus.

But why aren’t airlines flying more flights?

John Eckhoff, Press Officer, SAS They say they usually have extra flights around the cup final weekends. They also tried this time.

Unfortunately, we have limited capacity in terms of scaling up operations after the pandemic. Sir Eckhoff.

In addition, the late start of the match makes it very difficult to prepare additional flights.

Eline Hyggen Skari, Norwegian press contact, says they’ve already set up extra flights home from the match. It filled up earlier this week.

– But rearranging the planes is a challenge. As we saw earlier in the week, the passengers were nicely distributed among the flights we set up.

Thinking of making more departures now?

– So far, we have not decided to make more additional flights.