Swedish regional airline BRA and Scandinavian airline SAS announced a deal on Monday that would move almost all flights from Stockholm’s Bromma airport to the larger Arlanda airport, putting the future of the city’s second airport in doubt.
From January 1, BRA will operate flights on behalf of SAS using Stockholm’s main airport, Arlanda, as its hub, the two airlines announced in separate press releases. As a result, approximately 90 percent of air traffic will disappear from Bromma Airport, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.
“I don’t think the airport will survive without us,” Per G. Braathen, chairman of the BRA, said at a news conference.
“We have been present at Bromma for 25 years and it is not profitable to operate this airport. We should concentrate on Arlanda,” he added.
The deal with SAS has a term of more than seven years and is worth approximately six billion kroner (530 million euros), BRA said in a statement. The airline added that its fleet would be expanded and “more pilots and cabin crew would be recruited”, while ground services and administrative functions would be reduced.
The integration of BRA’s fleet with SAS will improve Sweden’s infrastructure, but also positions Arlanda as a stronger central hub for domestic and international travel, Anko van der Werff, CEO of SAS, said in a statement. Jonas Abrahamsson, CEO of Swedavia, which operates Sweden’s airports, said Tuesday’s announcement meant domestic flights would now be concentrated at Arlanda.
“Bromma will in principle be without scheduled services,” Abrahamsson said in a statement.
He added that while many travelers liked Bromma, “a consolidation of air traffic to Arlanda is a natural development.”
The city of Stockholm wants to close Bromma Airport as quickly as possible to make way for housing and infrastructure, but Sweden has a contract to operate the airport until 2038. Daniella Waldfogel, CEO of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the announcement, saying it meant the closure of Bromma “had to be brought forward”.
