With the additional helicopters, the 330 Sqn could open a new base, at Ålesund Airport, Vigra. The goal was to increase the coverage in Møre og Romsdal and Sogn og Fjordane, situated midway between Ørland and Sola. By 1998 the government instead determined that the extra helicopters should be based in Eastern Norway and moved the base to Rygge Air Station. The new base became operational on 22 March 1999. This relieved the 720 Sqn for their SAR task, for which they neither had suitable aircraft nor the necessary preparedness.