Göteborg City Airport
| Göteborg City Airport | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Operator |
Cityflygplatsen i Göteborg AB | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Gothenburg, Sweden | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 18 m / 59 ft | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 57°46′32″N 011°52′14″E / 57.77556°N 11.87056°ECoordinates: 57°46′32″N 011°52′14″E / 57.77556°N 11.87056°E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | goteborgcityairport.se | ||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2012) | |||||||||||||||
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Göteborg City Airport (IATA: GSE, ICAO: ESGP), formerly (and still informally) known as Säve Flygplats, is an airport located 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) north-west[1] from the centre of Gothenburg on the island of Hisingen, Bohuslän, Sweden. It is located within the borders of Gothenburg Municipality, hence its name. It was Gothenburg's second international airport, with international scheduled flights from 2001 to 2015. In addition to commercial airlines, the airport was also used by a number of rescue services, including the Swedish Coast Guard.
Due to damage to the airport's runway by heavy aircraft and the high cost of repairs, the airport was closed to airline traffic indefinitely on 18 January 2015, but remains open to light aircraft.[4]
Overview
Although it was primarily a low-cost airline airport, it is actually located closer to Gothenburg city centre than the main Göteborg Landvetter Airport, even if the driving time is around the same. It was one of the few city airports to receive Ryanair flights. Göteborg City Airport was able to handle aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 767, an Airbus A320, or similar jets. The airport still accommodates general aviation activities, including two flying clubs, Aeroklubben i Göteborg and Chalmers flygklubb.
DFDS Seaways cited competition from low-cost air services, especially Ryanair (which flew to Glasgow Prestwick and London Stansted from Gothenburg City Airport), as being a reason for its scrapping its Newcastle-Gothenburg ferry service in October 2006.[5] It was the only dedicated passenger ferry service between Sweden and the United Kingdom, and had been running since the 19th century (under various operators).
History
Development
Construction of the airport began in 1940, as a military airbase for F 9 Säve, a wing of the Swedish Air Force. The airbase was closed down in 1969. In 1977, the old civil airport at Torslanda (about 10 km south of Säve) was closed down and scheduled flights moved to Landvetter Airport; and general aviation activities were moved to Säve. In 1984, the runway was improved and extended to allow larger business jets to operate.
In 2001, the airport was renamed City Airport, and Ryanair started operating scheduled flights to London. Prior to the arrival of Ryanair in 2001, the airport had 9,000 passengers per year; 844,000 passengers flew from City Airport in 2008.
In 2004, the Swedish Armed Forces entirely left the airport, when a helicopter squadron of the Swedish Marines was disbanded. A legacy of the military presence is a museum called Aeroseum, preserving various fighter jets and displaying military aircraft history.
Closure
On 26 November 2014, the airport had to ban all heavier aircraft, such as the Boeing 737. The reason was that the taxiway was not rated to carry heavy aircraft. This meant that all flights operated by Ryanair, Wizz Air and Gotlandsflyg were diverted to Landvetter Airport. The lighter aircraft flown by Sparrow Aviation were allowed to fly after a ban of one day. In the early days following the ban, most passengers still cleared security at Gothenburg City Airport before being transferred by bus.[6] Later all check-in was done at Landvetter Airport for diverted flights.
Initial plans were for the airport to remain closed to heavy aircraft until at least end of January 2015.[7] However, on 13 January 2015 the decision was published to close the airport permanently to passenger traffic, due to the high cost of fixing the runway/taxiway problem. Sparrow Aviation, using lighter aircraft, continued to use City Airport until 18 January 2015.[8]
The airport will be open until the end of 2015 in expectation of a possible buyer who can agree to Swedavia's conditions and ensure a long-term plan. [9]
Airlines and destinations
Due to the aforementioned issues there is no longer any passenger traffic scheduled. All airlines relocated to Göteborg Landvetter Airport, except Sparrow Aviation which terminated its Gothenburg-Stockholm Bromma Airport flights.
Statistics
| Year | Passengers | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 714,798 |  1.9% |
| 2011 | 772,669 |  8.1% |
| 2012 | 807,763 | 4.6% |
| 2013 | 863,140 | 6.8% |
| 2014 | 757,693 | 12.2% |
| Year | Movements | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 53,650 | 4.5% |
| 2011 | 55,394 | 3.3% |
| 2012 | 48,968 | 11.6% |
| 2013 | 50,848 | 3.8% |
| 2014 | 50,822 | 0.1% |
See also
References
- 1 2 "EAD Basic - Error Page". Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ↑ "Passagerarfrekvens" (in Swedish). Swedish Transport Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ↑ "Landningsfrekvens" (in Swedish). Swedish Transport Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ↑ "Göteborg City Airport". Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ↑ "DFDS scraps Newcastle-Gothenburg line", The Local, 7 September 2006: "Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways is to scrap the only passenger ferry route between Sweden and Britain, with the axing of the Gothenburg-Newcastle route at the end of October."
- ↑ "Flygplan får inte landa på flygplatsen i Säve". Expressen. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ↑ "Göteborg City Airport". Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ↑ Inriktning avseende Göteborg City Airport beslutad (Swedish)
- ↑ "Flygtorget » Flygnyheter » Flygnyheter » Sista ordet inte sagt om Göteborg City Airport". Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- 1 2 City.php UAF (List of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries)
- 1 2 Flygplatsstatistik (Transportstyrelsen) (The number of landings is given. It is assumed that the number of movements is double that).
External links
Media related to Göteborg City Airport at Wikimedia Commons
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