Oslo Airport Gardermoen sits about 35 kilometers northeast of Norway's capital, on flat open ground. The land has been military ground since the 1700s, when it served as a cavalry camp and a drill field for soldiers. Norway built a proper airfield there in the 1930s. German forces used it heavily while they controlled the country during the war. For decades afterward, Gardermoen stayed a military base.
It also handled charter flights and overflow traffic, while Fornebu, right beside the city, remained Oslo's main airport. Fornebu's runway was short and its site was cramped, so it could not expand. After years of political argument, Norway's parliament chose Gardermoen as the replacement in 1992. The new airport opened on October 8, 1998, and Fornebu closed the night before in a single overnight switch.
A high-speed train called the Flytoget opened at the same time. It still carries a very high share of Gardermoen's passengers compared with other big European airports. A large terminal extension opened in 2017, roughly doubling capacity, and it was built with heavy use of Norwegian timber and natural daylight. Gardermoen is the hub for SAS, Norwegian, and Wideroe, at the center of one of Europe's busiest domestic flight networks.