Let other airports relieve Arlanda to reduce pressure, believes an aviation expert. But Swedavia's chairman Åke Svensson cannot say for sure whether that is possible.

”It's clear that we're not satisfied, no one is satisfied,” he says.

The queue chaos at Arlanda has reached new levels over the weekend after the airport management was forced to call in the police to close the road to Terminal 5 due to the congestion. Everything also indicates that the situation could get even worse in the future when travel increases this summer, according to Swedavia, which operates the airport.

Aviation journalist Christer Åström thinks it is time to seek new ways out of the chaos and let other airports relieve Arlanda.

”"There are two airports near Stockholm that have international traffic, Skavsta and Västerås. All the facilities are there, it could be a possible way out in an emergency situation."”

Those airports are located about an hour away from Stockholm, but is not operated by Swedavia. In addition, there are other airports a little further away, such as Linköping, which is also not operated by the state-owned company.

”"It will of course cost Swedavia money and cause a lot of administrative problems. But it could be entirely possible," says Christer Åström.

Swedavia's board is closely monitoring what is happening at Arlanda, according to Chairman Åke Svensson, who is the most responsible person within the company.

According to him, Swedavia is doing everything it can to resolve the situation.

”"This is at the top of our agenda. We're trying to have a variety of ways to deal with this. At the same time, we have to be honest, we came out early and said this is going to be a problem," he says. 

Svensson emphasizes that Terminal 4 will soon open, which means another security check that passengers can use even when traveling from Terminal 5. Swedavia is also trying to redistribute staff between its ten airports.

Would it be possible to reallocate flights to other airports?

”Directing flights to other airports… I have to answer for that.”

Svensson points out that it is the airlines that fly to a particular airport. He cannot say whether some planes could be redirected to, for example, Skavsta, Västerås or Bromma Airport, which Swedavia owns. Nor whether the airport management has investigated the possibilities.

”No, I need to find out more about that.”

According to Svensson, the situation that has now arisen is due to the fact that travel has increased so rapidly after the pandemic, faster than Swedavia had thought. This is certainly gratifying, Karlsson believes – but it creates major problems.

”It's a very worrying situation with the long queues,” he says.

”"We are having difficulty staffing the security checkpoint. Yesterday, the problems were shifted to a check-in problem, as many travelers arrived so early that the airport was overcrowded."”

At Arlanda you know in advance when there will be a lot of traffic and many passengers, but what has happened now is that so many have arrived several hours early precisely because of the queues.

”"It has been postponed. We are now working towards a moving target."” 

Arlanda is not the The only airport in the world to experience queueing problems after the pandemic. For example, airports in Europe have been forced to temporarily close.

Could Swedavia be forced to close the airport if the queue situation becomes too severe?

”"Closing is a dramatic decision. Our ambition is to get passengers through to their flights, not to close," says Svensson.

Around 35,000 people travel from Arlanda every day. Swedavia's view is that not many travelers actually miss their flights – but every person who does is one person too many, according to Åke Svensson.

”"It's clear that we're not satisfied, no one is. But my opinion is that Swedavia is doing everything in our power to get this sorted out.".

Source:DI.SE-TT