The Swedish aviation sector is in chaos with a struggling SAS and hours-long queues for passengers at Arlanda. But the government does not want to give any information about additional billions in tax money for SAS, and confidence in Swedavia's management is not wavering.
”"It is difficult to hold Swedavia responsible for that," says Minister of Industry, Trade and Industry Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson (S).
Vacationing and business travelers from Sweden have to queue for hours to get through security checks at Arlanda.
The background is that the security company responsible for the checks does not have enough personnel for the security check.
Arlanda is owned by state-owned Swedavia, but according to Swedavia, the root of the problem is that Säpo's security checks of the staff are taking too long.
Säpo, for its part, believes that the agency's processing times are the same as they always have been and that the problem therefore does not lie with them.
While one actor after another is shifting responsibility to someone else, the long queues at Arlanda are expected to remain until this fall, according to Swedavia.
Despite the chaos, The government's confidence in Swedavia's management remains intact, says Minister of Industry, Trade and Industry Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson.
At the same time, he claims that the government cannot be held responsible for the situation, as the opposition has claimed.
”"It is difficult to express confidence in Swedavia when there is a queue at Säpo. It is difficult to hold Swedavia responsible for that. The company management must make an assessment of this. We would like to be able to be aware of every detail of everything that happens in the companies, but we cannot do that," says Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson.
Like Swedavia, the Minister of Trade and Industry points out that it is the processing of security checks that is the reason for the queues.
”"I think it's difficult to criticize Swedavia when it's obviously a problem that you can't get through security checks, because it's become much stricter about who is hired at airports and that's how it should be."”
Another concern for travelers is SAS. The company needs additional billions to survive, and the Swedish and Danish governments have already stepped in with several billions to keep SAS in the air.
Di was able to reveal on Wednesday that there is foreign investors who have expressed interest in buying the airline.
”"We are currently analyzing the situation and we have no comment on the financial situation of SAS at this time," says the Minister of Industry and Trade.
It's about new billions, you don't think you owe the taxpayers an answer?
”I owe the taxpayers the answer, but you will get it when we finish the analysis.”
Source: DI.SE
