Norwegian Aviation College was a flying school with its base at Bardufoss Air Station in Norway. SAS's most experienced airline pilots/instructors participated in selecting the location, designing the training facilities, selecting the equipment and in the design of the training programmes and the follow-up. This, coupled with a rigorous testing and selection of the applicants, had resulted in an ab-initio pilot training programme, unique in the aviation industry.
Current issue
Norwegian Aviation College was supported financially by SAS, but around 2004 SAS wanted to cut the support. The University of Tromsø was planning to take over and make the college a part of the university thus making this educational course a government offer. The process took a lot of time, and since the last integrated course class graduated in September 2006, the college did not take in any new students per April 2007. Snorre Runeson Bendiktsen was not happy with this, since he was the
entrepreneur of the college.
On May 20, 2008, the University of Tromsø announced that their flight training programme would be commencing during autumn 2008, with actual flight training starting spring 2009 in Tromsø. It is still unclear as to what part Norwegian Aviation College would have played in the new establishment, as the company formally ceased to exist at the end of 2007, and their aircraft and other assets sold.