Recently, the company Populair, which has operated between Örnsköldsvik and Arlanda for a long time, announced that it will cease operations soon. As of June 12, its air traffic will be suspended, the main reason being sharply rising fuel prices linked to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement means that one of Sweden's airports is now completely without regular flight connections, something that risks becoming increasingly common. This is what Peter Larsson, CEO of the industry organization Swedish Regional Airports, warns about.
"We are worried about this fuel price issue - not just that it will pause or cancel flights, but that, as in Örnsköldsvik, entire routes will be cancelled. It is outrageous that there are more airports at risk of losing traffic than there are airports that have it," he says.
Nail in the coffin
During the spring, the Swedish Transport Administration has proposed closing five of twelve procured flight routes, such as Arlanda–Kramfors and Arlanda–Mora, which are maintained with government funds; this will happen before the next contract period (2027).
Rising fuel prices are just another nail in the coffin, warns Peter Larsson. SAS has previously announced that it needs to cancel a large number of its flights during the spring due to increased costs. Peter Larsson fears that airports such as Kalmar, Halmstad and Sundsvall could be affected if the energy crisis persists.
"I'm most worried about Sundsvall, because we usually don't hear complaints from airlines. They are a mirror of what the market looks like."
Got to raise prices
In addition to SAS and Norwegian, there are a number of smaller airlines that operate domestic routes in Sweden, including Västflyg, which flies from Stockholm to Trollhättan and to Växjö. On the latter route, the company has had to raise prices by a couple of hundred kronor, CEO Anna Petre tells TT.
However, cancelling any of the routes is not an option at the moment, even if we are currently "turning over every stone".
"We have almost full morning departures from both Växjö and Trollhättan," she says.
