The first aircraft in Hasvik was an emergency landing carried out en route to Svalbard in the early 1970s. The plain where the aircraft landed, located near the village, became the site of the airport. The regional airline Norving took the initiative in 1972 to construct a simple airfield at Hasvik; they hoped to finance along with the municipality, the National Insurance Administration and the local chapter of the Norwegian Red Cross Search and Rescue Corps. In addition to being able to operate an air taxi service and land air ambulances, locals hoped that the construction would be a first step to becoming part of the state-financed construction of regional airports in Finnmark. However, Hasvik was not selected as one of the original regional airports.