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Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S or Braathens SAFE was founded by ship-owner Ludvig G. Braathen in 1946. It started as a charter airline based at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen in Norway, flying to destinations in the Far East and in South America. At first the airline used Douglas DC-4s, and later also Douglas DC-3s. In 1948, the airline moved to Oslo Airport, Fornebu and started regular scheduled flights to the Far East. In 1952, the airline started cooperation with the Icelandic airline Loftleidir, where until 1960 the two airlines in cooperation flew flights to Reykjavík. Domestic services started in 1951, using de Havilland Herons on a route from Oslo to Stavanger via Tønsberg. Braathens SAFE also established at Stavanger Airport, Sola. A second route was started two years later to Trondheim. The Heron routes also stopped in Farsund, Kristiansand, Notodden to Stavanger and Hamar, Røros to Trondheim. In 1958, Braathens SAFE started flying to Ålesund and at the same time started flights along the West Coast. In 1959, Fokker F-27s were taken into use, and with the Herons taken out of service, Hamar, Farsund and Tønsberg were terminated. During 1960, the airline flew a single season to Sandefjord and Aalborg. The company also entered the domestic and international charter market during the 1960s, an industry where the airline would eventually grow to become a large Norwegian and Swedish contestant. Services to Bodø and Tromsø started in 1967, although only from Western Norway. Braathens' main domestic competitor was Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), which operated all the primary domestic routes Braathens SAFE did not, in addition to the international routes. Braathens took Boeing 737-200s and Fokker F-28s into use in 1969; Kristiansund was first served in 1970 and Molde in 1972. From 1984, the airline also operated two Boeing 767s, although they were retired along with the F-28s were in 1986. Services to Longyearbyen started in 1987. From 1987, Braathens SAFE was allowed to make international scheduled flights on certain routes. In 1989, it opened a route to Billund, in 1991 to Malmö, Newcastle and London, and in 1993 to Murmansk. From 1989 to 1994, the airline replaced its fleet with Boeing 737-400 and -500s. From 1989 to 1994, Braathens Helikopter operated services on contract with oil companies to their oil platforms in the North Sea. ==Far East== Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S was founded on 26 March 1946 by Ludvig G. Braathen through his shipping company Braathens Rederi.〔Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1995: 22〕 Share capital was , plus loans from the shipping company.〔Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1995: 31〕 Braathens had made good money during World War II with the participation in the Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission, and received permission to use US$1 million to purchase aircraft.〔Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1995: 30–31〕 The idea to start an airline had occurred to Braathen in 1936, when the ship ''Brajara'' had engine trouble while en route to Japan. The Japanese shipyards could not guarantee that they could repair the ship, and at first it was considered whether the ship should be towed to Europe for repairs. The solution chosen was instead to have the necessary piece made in Amsterdam and flown by KLM. Braathen wanted to have an airline that would be able to fly crew and supplies to his and other ships throughout the world—primarily in the Far East.〔Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1995: 17〕 Braathen traveled to the United States, where he bought several used Douglas C-54 (DC-4) aircraft from the United States Air Force. These were rebuilt by Texas Maintenance Company (Temco) in Fort Worth, Texas, giving them a capacity of 44 passengers, or 22 passengers and of cargo. Twenty pilots were recruited and sent to Fort Worth for certification. The first plane, LN-HAV ''Norse Explorer'', landed at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen on 26 December 1946. The next planes were LN-HAT ''Norse Skyfarer'' on 11 February 1947 and LN-NAU ''Norse Trader'' on 13 March.〔Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1995: 31–34〕 The first route ran from Oslo to Cairo via Copenhagen and Paris on 30 January 1947. Afterwards, the company was chartered for several trips from Paris and Marseille, France, to Lydda, Palestine, and Tunis, Tunisia. From Lydda, the aircraft were used to evacuate French and British personnel prior to the creation of Israel. The company's route to Hong Kong was the longest air route in the world. At the time, the only scheduled service to the Far East was operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation using Sandringham flying boats. This route took a fortnight, while KLM had a land-plane route from Amsterdam to Batavia (Djarkarta). The first Braathens SAFE flight was made on 24 February from Oslo, landing at Amsterdam, Marseille, Cairo, Basra, Karachi, Culcutta and Bangkok before Hong Kong, where ''Norske Skyfarer'' landed on 8 March. Total flight time was 46 hours. Along the route, Braathens SAFE established contracts with agents, or stationed their own employees.〔Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1995: 34–35〕 The regular services could be done with a round trip time of nine to ten days, including overnighting in Cairo, Karachi and Bangkok, and with technical revision of the plane in Hong Kong. At first there were semiweekly services, but by the end of 1947, these had increased to weekly. In June, Braathens SAFE bought a Douglas DC-3, LN-PAS ''Norse Carrier'', and in August another DC-4, LN-PAW ''Norse Commander'', both from KLM. In 1947, Braathens SAFE flew twenty-five trips to Hong Kong, five to New York and one to Johannesburg, South Africa, making a profit of NOK 750,000. The following year, Braathens SAFE started the first trial flights to South America. The first flight was made on 23 August from Stavanger via Reykjavík, Gander and Bermuda to Caracas, where the plane landed on 26 August. In October, the airline flew to Panama, but neither route gave sufficient contracts to commence regular services. In 1948, the airline made fifty trips to Hong Kong, eight to Johannesburg, two to the United States, three to Venezuela and two to Panama.〔Tjomsland and Wilsberg, 1995: 35–43〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Braathens SAFE (1946–93)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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