– We had twice as many charter flights in the summer of 2022 as in 2019. That created major challenges for the capacity we have to play with at the airport. That’s what manager at the airport in Longyearbyen, Hans Jørgen Bugge, says. It is especially the charter traffic in connection with cruise ships that has increased over the airport in Longyearbyen. In July last year alone, the airport handled around 21,700 passengers. In August, the number of passengers rose further, to almost 23,000, the monthly statistics from Avinor show. Eight flights in one day Last summer, the airport had to handle at most eight flights per day. “With today’s infrastructure and limited capacity, this has occasionally led to chaos in the terminal building, and delays in air traffic,” says a letter from the Ministry of Transport to the Governor of Svalbard in November. Airport manager in Longyearbyen, Hans Jørgen Bugge. Photo: Rune Nordgård Andreassen / news Airport manager Hans Jørgen Bugge confirms that the summer of 2022 was challenging, with sometimes long queues and delays. – We can only take one flight at a time, but it doesn’t always turn out that way in practice. It happens that several planes arrive at the same time. Then there will be a lot of people who have to be handled in the best possible way, says Bugge. Setting the upper ceiling Now Avinor is taking action. Not only must the flights to and from Longyearbyen be better distributed throughout the day. There is also an upper limit of six flights per day, says chairman of the board at Svalbard Airport, Anders Kirsebom. According to him, it is especially the charter traffic that is challenging, since the flights are often decided a short time in advance. Now the charter companies have to deal with restrictions on the times of the day they can get so-called landing slots. – With that, we should be able to manage the traffic in a good way, says Kirsebom. Head of tourism company Visit Svalbard, Ronny Brunvoll welcomes the changes. According to Brunvoll, charter traffic is poorly coordinated with other tourism activities in Longyearbyen. – It creates problems for Avinor, it creates problems for the harbor and it creates problems for those who drive buses, says Brunvoll. – Development not applicable now Avinor will spend a lot of money on development projects in the coming years. Among other things, over NOK 7 billion will be spent on a new airport in Bodø, and NOK 2.8 billion on a new airport in Mo i Rana. As of now, however, there are no concrete plans for development in Longyearbyen, informs Anders Kirsebom. The arrival hall at the airport in Longyearbyen. Photo: Rune Nordgård Andreassen / news Instead, money will be used to improve the runway. Large sums will also be spent on removing contaminated masses at the old fire training field at the airport. But if traffic over the airport continues to increase, the question of development may be put on the agenda, says State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Jakob Bjelland. – It is not something that is relevant in the very near future. But we have seen that charter traffic has doubled from 2019 to 2022. If we continue to develop like that, then it is a matter we have to look into more closely, says Bjelland.
ttn-69
Increased charter traffic creates chaos and delays at Svalbard Airport. Action must now be taken – news Troms and Finnmark
