The first route ran from Oslo to Cairo via Copenhagen and Paris on 30 January 1947 . Afterwards , the company was chartered for several trips from Paris and Marseille , France , to Lydda , Palestine , and Tunis , Tunisia . From Lydda , the aircraft were used to evacuate French and British personnel prior to the creation of Israel . The company 's route to Hong Kong was the longest air route in the world . At the time , the only scheduled service to the Far East was operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation using Sandringham flying boats . This route took a fortnight , while KLM had a land @-@ plane route from Amsterdam to Batavia ( Djarkarta ) . The first Braathens SAFE flight was made on 24 February from Oslo , landing at Amsterdam , Marseille , Cairo , Basra , Karachi , Culcutta and Bangkok before Hong Kong , where Norske Skyfarer landed on 8 March . Total flight time was 46 hours . Along the route , Braathens SAFE established contracts with agents , or stationed their own employees .