GuardAir AS was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

.

The airline was founded in 1992 by Einar Rønnestad, and started with a Cessna 210

Cessna 210

The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear single-engine general aviation aircraft which was first flown in January 1957 and produced by Cessna until 1985.-Design and development:...

 that it operated for the insurance company Storebrand

Storebrand

Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, since 2006, P&C insurance products...

 to find stolen cars and boats. In 1995, the company bought a Piper PA-31 Navajo

Piper PA-31 Navajo

The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engine aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also licence-built in a number of Latin American countries. Targeted at small-scale cargo and feeder liner operations and...

, and in 1997 it merged with Wing-Tech, and Bjørn Wasler became a co-owner. The company started with charter and cargo, and a Dornier Do 228

Dornier Do 228

The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, manufactured by Dornier GmbH from 1981 until 1998. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics bought a production licence and manufactures the 228 for the Asian market sphere. Approximately 270 Do 228 were built at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany and...

 was leased. An agreement was made to fly the newspaper Aftenposten

Aftenposten

Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007...

from Oslo to Western Norway at night, and return with mail. For this, two additional Dorniers were leased. In 1998, the airline started passenger flights from Skien Airport, Geiteryggen

Skien Airport, Geiteryggen

Skien Airport, Geiteryggen is an airport located 2.5 km southwest of the city centre of Skien, Norway. Skien Lufthavn AS operates the airport and this company is owned by the local municipality of Skien in the Grenland region. Services are provided by Danish Air Transport to Bergen and Stavanger...

 to the newly opened Oslo Airport, Gardermoen

Oslo Airport, Gardermoen

Oslo Airport, Gardermoen is the principal airport serving Oslo, Norway. It acts as the main domestic hub and international airport for Norway, and the second-busiest airport in the Nordic countries. A hub for Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle, and a focus city for Widerøe, it is...

. At the same time, the administration was moved from Geiteryggen to Sandefjord Airport, Torp.

GuardAir started flights from Sandefjord to Ålesund Airport, Vigra

Ålesund Airport, Vigra

Ålesund Airport, Vigra is an airport which serves the city of Ålesund in Norway and the surrounding regions Sunnmøre, Nordfjord and Romsdal. The airport is located on the island of Vigra in the Giske municipality, northeast of Ålesund city centre and easily accessible through underseas tunnels...

, Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik

Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik

Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik is situated northeast of the city Kristiansand, Vest-Agder in southern Norway, located from the city centre. The airport serves the Agder district with domestic and international flights. In 2008 the airport had 915,092 passengers. The airport is operated by Avinor...

 and Gothenburg in Sweden. In 2000, Stein Matre bought part of the company, and it decided to bid for some of the public service obligation

Public Service Obligation

In transport, public service obligation or PSO is an arrangement in which a governing body or other authority offers an auction for subsidies, permit the winning company a monopoly to operate a specified service of public transport for a specified period of time for the given subsidy...

s that were being auctioned away by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications

Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Transportation and Communications is a Norwegian ministry established in 1946, and is responsible for transportation and communication infrastructure in Norway. It is led by Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa...

. The company was awarded two routes, from Bodø Airport

Bodø Airport

Bodø Airport is civil airport in Bodø, Norway. Located just south of the city centre, on the westernmost tip of the peninsula Bodø lies on, it shares facilities with the military air force base Bodø Main Air Station. The airport has a single concrete, runway which runs in a roughly east-west...

 to Røst Airport

Røst Airport

Røst Airport is a regional airport serving the island and municipality of Røst in Nordland, Norway. It is owned and operated by Avinor. Services are provided by Widerøe, operating de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 aircraft on contract with the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Services...

, and from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen to Fagernes Airport, Leirin

Fagernes Airport, Leirin

Fagernes Airport, Leirin serves Fagernes and the surrounding valleys of Valdres, Hallingdal and Gudbrandsdal in Southern Norway, from Oslo. Opened in 1987, it is owned and operated by state-owned Avinor. The airport is above sea level, and has a runway...

. The company filed for bankruptcy on 2 April 2001 after the company had lost .