Swedish government to investigate the future of Stockholm’s airports Arlanda and Bromma – once again

The ultimate goal is for Bromma to be closed down and Arlanda to be developed. Minister of Infrastructure Tomas Eneroth has launched another inquiry to review how this should be done.

Peter Norman becomes an investigator and he gets four months, until 15 June 2022, to report. Norman should develop a plan for the development and expansion of Arlanda, to “secure sufficient flight capacity” in the Stockholm area if Bromma is closed down, according to Eneroth.

Among other things, how can domestic flights be moved from Bromma to Arlanda? According to Eneroth, this would strengthen Arlanda’s competitiveness. Right now, there is significant overcapacity in the Stockholm area, according to the minister.

Peter Norman is also commissioned to review which environmental assessments may be needed. Asked whether an additional, fourth runway is relevant, Eneroth replies that Swedavia has so far said that it is not needed. “But the investigator has no governing directives in that matter,” says Eneroth.

The former investigator, who presented his conclusions last autumn, also looked at roughly the same questions. That investigation was more legal in nature, according to Eneroth. “This one is much more about how we do this in practice,” says Peter Norman.

The new investigation will be launched less than six months after the former presented its proposals. It had four months to find out what needed to be done on and around Arlanda to develop the airport and the conditions for Arlanda to take over the operations that currently exist in Bromma. On that basis, the government could then quickly make a decision to initiate the closure of Bromma. Investigator Magnus Persson estimated that the government could make a decision on this as early as 2022 and a phase-out would then be made in three to five years.

Minister Eneroth then said that the government’s goal is to close down Bromma and concentrate traffic to Arlanda. “It would provide better accessibility, a better basis for international flights at Arlanda and also free up land and space at Bromma for housing,” Eneroth said when the previous investigation was presented in August last year.

But a majority in the Riksdag (parliament) protested loudly and promised to tear up a decision to close down in the event of a change of power. The government must beware of hasty decisions in the middle of a pandemic, was a loud message.

New investigation

Just before Christmas, when a new government had taken office, Eneroth announced that there would be a new investigation and that the government wanted support in the Riksdag for what would happen to the two airports. But the goal is still, said Eneroth, to secure capacity and adapt Arlanda so that Bromma can be closed down.

Source: SVT Nyheter