LONDON SKI FLIGHTS TO NEW SCANDINAVIAN AIRPORT BLOCKED

30th December 2019

Last modified on May 16th, 2021

The airport cannot currently accept travellers from outside the Schengen customs area. Flights from Heathrow are being diverted to Oslo.

The inaugural SAS flight from Heathrow to the new Scandinavian Mountains Airport was due to have taken place on Saturday 28th December.

However the airport is currently unable to accept passengers from outside the Schengen customs area as the necessary paperwork and permissions have not been issued.

The UK is not in the Schengen area and so the UK flights are being diverted to Oslo and people bussed to the ski resorts of Trysil and Salen.

The journey takes several hours as opposed to the 10-minutes from the new airport.

The short transfer time in being promoted as one of the major attractions and skiers and snowboarders booked on the new flight are disappointed by the situation.

In August permission was sought for border control at the airport from the Swedish government but it has not been forthcoming.

The government will meet on January 15th to address the issue.

PlanetSKI is due to use the route the following weekend, January 19th, to report on the new route and the two ski destinations.

Fingers crossed the bureaucracy can be sorted out and it looks like we will be on the inaugural flight.

“In the longer term, this is no big deal, although we apologise to those affected,” said Gunnar Lenman, CEO of Scandinavian Mountains Airport.

“Of course, we also think that the Government Offices should handle the municipality’s application earlier and faster.”

“We have built this airport with a long-term perspective. Of course, this is not what we intended, but we will soon be able to welcome travellers directly from London to our fine airport,” added Gunnar Lenman.

In the meantime passengers from the UK will need to take a transfer bus.

Here on PlanetSKI we reported on the airport opening in News In Brief on December 24th.