Visby Airport
Visby Airport Visby flygplats | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public (Luftfartsverket) | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Swedavia | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Visby | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Gotland, Sweden | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 164 ft / 50 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 57°39′46″N 018°20′46″E / 57.66278°N 18.34611°E / 57.66278; 18.34611 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | swedavia.com/visby/ | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  VBY Location within Gotland  VBY VBY (Sweden) | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2016) | |||||||||||||||
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AIP[1] Statistics: Transportstyrelsen[2][3] | |||||||||||||||
Visby Airport (IATA: VBY, ICAO: ESSV), is located about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) north of Visby, Gotland, Sweden.
Visby airport is Gotland's only commercial airport and the 12th largest airport in Sweden. The airport had 463,616 passengers in 2016.[2] The traffic has a large seasonal variation with many more passengers in the summer; in 2016, it had 18,070 passengers in January and 57,302 in July. During the Almedalen Week the airport is slot coordinated.[4]
History
Seaplanes were used for public flights to Gotland from 1925, landing in a sheltered bay near Slite, or in Lake Tingstäde.[5]
Visby Airport was opened on 27 January 1942. The first aircraft to land was a Junkers Ju 52/3m named Göteland from AB Aerotransport.[6] In October of the same year, regular traffic between Visby and the Swedish mainland started, in the beginning mostly with Ju 52s. In 1958, a new terminal building, a new control tower and a new runway made of asphalt was inaugurated. A runway also featured a railway crossing. The current terminal and control tower opened in 1985.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Visby Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| BRA Braathens Regional Airlines | Gothenburg, Malmö, Stockholm–Bromma Seasonal: Aarhus, Ängelholm, Norrköping, Oslo |
| Finnair | Seasonal: Helsinki |
| Norwegian Air Shuttle[7] | Seasonal: Stockholm–Arlanda |
| Ryanair | Seasonal: Stockholm–Arlanda[8] |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Stockholm–Arlanda |
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Amapola Flyg | Stockholm–Arlanda[9] |
Statistics
| Rank | Airport | Passengers handled | % change 2021/22 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Stockholm, Sweden[a] |
259,833 |  49.2
|
| 2 | Gothenburg, Sweden |
15,011 | 40.3
|
| 3 | Malmö, Sweden |
10,346 | 335.8
|
| 4 |  Helsinki, Finland |
3,396 | 
|
| 5 |  Rhodes, Greece |
2,339 | 882.8
|
| Year | Passenger volume | Change | Domestic | Change | International | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 446,864 |  4.5% |
433,408 | 4.6% |
13,456 | 0.4%
|
| 2018 | 467,855 | 4.8% |
454,483 | 4.2% |
13,402 | 17.2%
|
| 2017 | 491,503 | 6.0% |
474,684 | 5.7% |
16,189 | 9.1%
|
| 2016 | 463,616 | 7.5% |
448,784 | 8.0% |
14,832 | 8.3%
|
| 2015 | 431,430 | 6.0% |
415,251 | 6.5% |
16,179 | 6.0%
|
| 2014 | 406 998 | 389,793 | 17,205 |
Military significance
The airport has been used for military activities from its opening in 1942, although not as a proper airbase, but as a detachment used by a mainland airbase. The airport has the only long runway on Gotland. Gotland and the airport are important in the event of a need to defend against an attack on NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and for general defense of the Baltic Sea.
Other aviation
Apart from the commercial aviation at Visby airport, there is also a flying club and a parachuting club based at the airport. And the Swedish Maritime Administration has a search and rescue helicopter based in Visby.
Unusual railroad crossing
Before the railroad was closed down on the island of Gotland, the main line from Visby to the northern parts of the island actually crossed the runway. It was one of the few airports in the world where this happened. [11] The railway traffic was ended in 1960, and the tracks were removed a few years later.
See also
Notes
- ^ Includes flights to/from Stockholm–Arlanda and Stockholm–Bromma
References
- ^ "ESSV – Visby" (PDF). AIP Sverige/Sweden. Norrköping: The LFV Group. 23 August 2012. pp. AD 2 ESSV 1-1..8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ a b c "Flygplatsstatistik". Transportstyrelsen. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- ^ "Statistics". Swedavia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
- ^ Carlsson, Anders. "Almedalsveckan sätter nya rekord i Visby". Flygtorget (in Swedish). Retrieved 1 June 2019.
- ^ "Visby Airport / History". Swedavia. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
- ^ Hammarhjelm, Bengt (1999). Beredskap på Gotland 175 år: 1811-1986 (in Swedish) (2nd, utök. uppl., jämte komplement till 2000 ed.). Visby: Ödin. p. 164. ISBN 91-85716-84-7. SELIBR 7751982.
- ^ "Route map". norwegian.com.
- ^ "Continued expansion and investment in domestic service from Stockholm Arlanda – Ryanair to launch 12 new routes for summer 2022 season". 10 November 2021.
- ^ "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map".
- ^ "Antal ankommande och avresande passagerare på Swedavias flygplatser, 2022" (XLSX). Swedavia.se. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
- ^ "Gotland 65 år före Stockholm". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on November 11, 2010.
External links
Media related to Visby Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
