SAS introduced the 52-passenger Convair Metropolitan on their domestic services, while Finnair served the airport with the 30-seat Douglas DC-3 on their flights to Finland. In the first month the two airlines had 88 aircraft movements, while the Royal Norwegian Air Force had 44 and Varangfly 60. Both SAS and Finnair replaced Varangfly's routes, which did not operate scheduled flights from the new airport. Varangfly therefore sold its land aircraft and instead became a seaplane operator. SAS introduced the 122-passenger Douglas DC-9 jet aircraft at Kirkenes from 1969. Helikopter Service flew a civilian helicopter to Høybuktmoen for the first time the same year. Kirkenes Airport served 20,638 passengers in 1964 and 40,477 in 1970.