Fornebu is a peninsular area in the suburban municipality of Bærum

Bærum

is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandvika. Bærum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. A suburb of Oslo, Bærum is located on the west coast of the city....

 in Norway

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...

, bordering western parts of Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

.

Oslo Airport, Fornebu

Oslo Airport, Fornebu

Oslo Airport, Fornebu was the main airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and the area has since been redeveloped. The airport was located at Fornebu in Bærum, from the city center. Fornebu had two runways, one...

 (FBU) served as the main airport for Oslo and the country since before WWII

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and until the evening of October 7, 1998, when it was closed down. Overnight, a grand moving operation was performed, so that the following morning, the new main airport, located inland at 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...

 (OSL), opened for operations as main airport, as opposed to previously having been a minor airport.

As of the turn of the millennium, the Fornebu area is being developed as a centre for information technology

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

 and telecom industry, as well as there being some housing project developments nearby. The new headquarters of Norway's telecom giant Telenor

Telenor

Telenor Group is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor Group is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia, working predominantly under the Telenor brand...

 are located in the area.

The peninsula is connected to Langodden and Snarøya

Snarøya

Snarøya is a populated peninsula in the inner Oslofjord in Norway. A suburb of Oslo, administratively and geographically it belongs to Bærum municipality in Akershus county. It is located south of the districts Lysaker, Lagåsen and Fornebu, and has 2,940 inhabitants.-History:Its name is derived...

, which are more established areas of private residences.

Etymology

The name (Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 Fornabú(ð)) originally belonged to an old farm on the peninsula. The first element is the genitive form of an old male name Forni, the last element is bú n 'farm' (or maybe búð f 'shed

Shed

A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....

, simple house').

Economy

Scandinavian Airlines System

Scandinavian Airlines System

Scandinavian Airlines or SAS, previously Scandinavian Airlines System, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the largest airline in Scandinavia....

's Norway offices are in Fornebu. Norwegian Air Shuttle

Norwegian Air Shuttle

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA , trading as Norwegian, is the second-largest airline in Scandinavia. In 2010, it transported 13.0 million people. As of October 2011, Norwegian operates a total fleet of 62 aircraft; 17 Boeing 737-300s and 45 Boeing 737-800s...

 is also based in Fornebu.

Partnair

Partnair

Partnair was a Norwegian charter airline company owned by Terje and Rolf Thoresen. The company was formed by a merger including Nor-Fly Charter in 1985. The company operated mainly in the ad hoc marked with oil companies as their primary customer...

, a charter airline, was headquartered at Fornebu Airport up to 1989. When the airline Busy Bee of Norway existed, its head office was on the grounds of Fornebu Airport. Braathens

Braathens

Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, is a former Norwegian airline that operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines Norway to become SAS Braathens in 2004. The airline was based in Oslo, first at Fornebu,...

 and SAS Braathens

SAS Braathens

SAS Braathens was the name of Norway's largest airline, created by a merger between Scandinavian Airlines' Norwegian division and Braathens in 2004. On June 1, 2007, the airline was integrated into mainline SAS, and changed its name to SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge...

had their head office facilities in a building on the grounds of Fornebu Airport. In 2010 Norwegian Air Shuttle bought the former Braathens head office.