As the first airport in Scandinavia, Stavanger Airport, Sola produces its own honey.
Honey production since 2014
Since 2014, Stavanger Airport has been producing its own honey. Beehives are placed along the runway, and thousands of bees take off and land here in search of nectar from flowers in the surrounding area. Honey is harvested from the hives by beekeeper Kjetil Lyse and is jarred at KL apiary in Sandnes.
But why on earth do we make honey?
First and foremost, it's because we take the environment seriously. Controlling the honey produced between the runways allows us to monitor for pollution in the air, rainwater, flowers, or pollen around us. The bees almost constantly collect nectar and pollen, and these "samples" give us a good indicator of the air quality at Sola. The honey has been tested and found to be pure.
We also want to sell and serve as many local and low-distance products and ingredients as possible at our dining places. We can hardly get closer than this! And, we really love the sweet stuff here at Sola – and nothing is sweeter than just plain/plane honey.
The bee must visit over 20 million flowers - or take over 60,000 flights to produce 1 kg of honey. The beehives are located near a nature conservation area, where around 185 planes take off and land every day to/from over 70 different destinations. The bees, in turn, take about 40 trips each when nectar and pollen are "in the air" - and fly indirectly to about 4,000 flower destinations.