Fact: Even long queues in Europe
It was not only Swedish airports that experienced problems with long queues and waiting times in 2022. Several other European airports, including Heathrow in London, Charles de Gaulle in Paris and Schiphol in Amsterdam, were also not prepared for the increasing demand for air travel after the pandemic.
Even at Kastrup in Copenhagen, which is a popular departure point for many Swedes, the queues wound up to understaffed security checks periodically long.
“We experienced problems with waiting times at the security checkpoints. But we managed to avoid the same challenges as several other European airports by recruiting new security personnel already early in the year. We have continued this recruitment process to be well prepared for the summer ahead,” says Johnnie Müller, head of security at Kastrup, in a written comment to TT.
The state-owned company Swedavia, which is responsible for the operation of Arlanda and nine other airports in Sweden, sees an even greater demand for air travel before the summer than last year.
Despite that, there is no risk that queuing chaos will occur again, says Charlotte Ljunggren, director of market and commercial development at Swedavia.
“The queuing situation for the security checks, primarily at Arlanda, stabilized at the end of last summer and is still stable,” she says.
— We have a number of travel-intensive periods behind us – Christmas, New Year, the sports holiday and now, almost Easter – which have gone very well, she continues.
Missed flight
The long queues last year were partly due to an increased number of travelers after two years of pandemic and travel restrictions, partly due to a lack of security staff – and difficulties in recruiting new ones to handle the increase.
The combination caused the security controls to become overloaded.
At Arlanda north of Stockholm, where the queues were the largest, travelers periodically had to wait for hours to pass through the control and go to their gate, which often resulted in them missing their flights.
Major recruitment efforts
Charlotte Ljunggren points out that since last year, Swedavia and its subcontractors have carried out major recruitment efforts for the entire airport system, not least for the security checks.
“We are in a completely different situation than we were in 2022,” she says.
TT: Is there a risk that you will be caught in bed?
— No, that is not our assessment. We have learned from last year and looked at what we can do better. We have intensified the work with our partners and planned for what is to come.
However, some queues may occur during the summers as this is when we are most likely to travel.
— We shouldn’t stick under the chair with that, but we are prepared.
Better location
Lena Johansson, regional manager at the security company Avarn Security, which is responsible for manning the security controls at Arlanda, confirms to TT that the situation looks significantly better this year.
“This year we have a completely different basic staffing and the conditions are significantly better to be able to deliver good staffing during the summer as long as no external unforeseen events affect our staffing negatively,” she says in a written comment.
In addition to ensuring staffing, Swedavia has carried out efforts to utilize the airports’ capacity to the full. For example, in March, Terminal 2 reopened to non-Schengen travelers for the first time since before the pandemic.
In addition, a new security checkpoint will open in Terminal 5 at the beginning of the summer.