During the early 1950s, Widerøe and Polarfly would occasionally use the airfield for air ambulance services. Scandinavian Airlines System received permission on 3 March 1953 to use Ørlandet as an alternative airfield for its route to Northern Norway; the permission was expanded to also include their North Pole route to Los Angeles. In the course of ten years this resulted in six or seven landings. From 1958 to 1962 a direct cargo route with crabs and fish was established between Ørlandet and Stockholm, using a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar.