Passenger volumes rise at Sweden’s airports for third straight month

Nearly 2.9 million passengers passed through Swedavia’s airports in June, meaning that traffic volumes have risen at Sweden’s gateways for the third straight month for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

June is usually the strongest travel month of the year due to increased demand and routes being added during the summer.

As always, Stockholm Arlanda led the way, handling 1.9 million passengers during the month, followed by Göteborg Landvetter Airport, which welcomed 479,000 passengers.

According to Swedavia, “the queueing situation in the security checkpoints at Stockholm Arlanda has stabilised” in recent weeks thanks to the forceful measures it has initiated.

“The staffing situation continues to consistently improve, and the long queues are increasingly less frequent. However, there is still a great need for staff, which is a challenge throughout the industry, both among business operators at Arlanda and at a large number of airports across Europe,” it states.

Swedavia’s ten airports handled a total of 2.9 million passengers in June, an increase of a full 272% compared to June 2021.

Compared to 2019 – that is, before the pandemic – 74% of passengers were back at Swedavia’s airports in June. During the month, Arlanda had its ten biggest travel days since the start of the pandemic.

Referring to the improved queuing situation at the security checkpoints, Swedavia president and CEO, Jonas Abrahamsson, says: “The combination of our forceful measures, like bolstering staffing, opening Terminal 4 and restricting entry to Terminal 5, has had an impact.

“The long queues to the security checkpoints are much less frequent, and throughput has improved, but in some peak periods, the queues are still long, which I regret.

“The staffing situation will continue to consistently improve during the rest of the summer, but like always during this period of intense travel, queues will form at check-in, security screening and border control for the rest of the summer. Together with our partners at the airport, we are doing our utmost to best manage the situation.”

He continues: “We evaluate additional measures to improve the throughput at Arlanda on a continuous basis, and our partners are continuing their recruitment measures to meet the increase in travel.

“However, there is still a big staffing shortage, which is a challenge for the entire industry, both for operators at Arlanda and at many airports around Europe, and combined with strikes may lead to continued challenges in the re-start of air travel after the pandemic.”

During the month, Swedavia continued to take measures to meet the increase in travel and expand operations at Arlanda. In mid-June, Terminal 4 was re-opened, with more check-in counters and an additional security checkpoint.

Meanwhile, the new connecting walkway between Terminals 4 and 5 was placed in service. The walkway enables passengers to get between the terminals without exiting the airport.

To avoid crowding and reduce queues to the security checkpoints in Terminal 5, Swedavia has also decided to restrict entry to Terminal 5 to passengers who have no more than three hours before their flight.

Major efforts have also been made and continue to be made to improve the staffing situation at the airport and especially at Arlanda’s security checkpoints. Avarn, which is responsible for security screening, continues to take on new staff and about 100 employees will be ready to work at the security checkpoints in July, which will result in a continuously improved queueing situation.

Swedavia has also added another security services provider to ease the staffing situation.