Already in a debate in October, Member of Parliament Peter Hedberg (S) from Kramfors raised the situation for the county’s two airports. He has taken part in SVT’s reporting on the situation for the county’s airports.
– It confirms the picture of how serious this situation actually is for the regional airports, he says.
Declined a dialogue
Peter Hedberg is critical of the Alliance’s handling of the state aviation investigation that was presented in February 2023. Since then, he believes that not much has happened. According to Hedberg, among other things, the owner municipalities and the business community invited Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson (KD) to a conversation about the train and flight situation in Västernorrland, which the minister is said to have turned down. Something that Peter Hedberg is critical of.
– Unfortunately, Norrland often ends up in the shadows. Then it is important that you talk to those concerned such as universities, business and municipalities, so that you understand why we need functioning air traffic. But the government is not willing to have a dialogue and I think that is regrettable.
“Important to keep the airports”
The aviation issue is infected, not least in relation to climate change. Hedberg highlights that electric flights can be a success factor for domestic travel in the longer term.
– It is clear that it is nice if people can go on holiday in the sun, but that is not the main reason why we pursue these issues. It’s about growth, business and the emergency flight, he says.
The pandemic is cited as one of the starting points for the declining economy of aviation, why didn’t you do more when you were in power?
– Regarding aviation, it meant a downturn for domestic aviation, but some airports have recovered more than others. The state must now provide information when a thorough investigation has been carried out.
Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson (KD) writes in a text message to SVT that he does not agree that the government is passive and that a sign of that is the doubled support for regional airports and the abolition of the flight tax.
“The government works actively to strengthen aviation’s competitiveness and it is important that different actors are involved and contribute, for example by having mode-neutral travel policies that do not disadvantage aviation’s competitiveness,” writes Carlson.