Stockholm Västerås Airport

Stockholm Västerås Airport (IATA: VST, ICAO: ESOW), also known as Hässlö Flygplats, is a minor international airport located near the city of Västerås, Sweden, 110 km (70 mi) west of Stockholm Municipality and Stockholm County.

Stockholm Västerås Airport

Stockholm-Västerås flygplats
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorVästerås Flygplats AB
ServesStockholm, Sweden
LocationVästerås
Elevation AMSL6 m / 21 ft
Coordinates59°35′22″N 016°38′01″E
Map
VST is located in Västmanland
VST
VST
Location of airport in Västmanland
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
01/19 2,581 8,468 Asphalt
01/19 800 2,625 Grass
Statistics (2019)
Passengers total109,133
Aircraft movements14,250
Statistics: Swedish Transport Agency[1]

History

In 1931, the area started to be used as a military airbase. In 1976, the airport, bought by the city, started to be used for civilian flights; the first route was by Scandinavian Airlines to Copenhagen.

In 2001, Ryanair started flights, the first route led to London Stansted. In 2006, Ryanair left the airport, but returned again in 2007. The same year, Scandinavian Airlines ended their flights from Västerås.

The airport played an important role during the 2014 Västmanland wildfire, serving as a base for water bombers and rescue helicopters.

On 13 May 2020, the Västerås city council decided to close down the airport, stating that the airport company should end all activities no later than 31 December 2022. This was due to annual losses and the need for annual financing from the city, worsened by the coronavirus outbreak.[2] A local referendum was held on the matter on 21 March 2021, with the result that scheduled air traffic shall not end.[3]

General aviation

The airport has extensive general-aviation traffic. Of the 17,737 landings in 2014, 94% constituted general aviation, according to the Swedish CAA (Transportstyrelsen). This includes hospital flights, flight training, private flights, corporate flights and air taxi.[4] A multitude of operators are based at the airport; among these are maintenance workshops, helicopter businesses, flight schools, flight clubs and an aviation museum.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Stockholm Västerås Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
Ryanair[5] London–Stansted
Seasonal: Alicante, Málaga

Statistics
Annual passenger traffic at VST airport. See Wikidata query.

Access

Travel from the airport to Stockholm Central Station may be done via Flygbussarna, private bus coach service, and takes approximately one and a half hours. There is also a local city bus to the Västerås Central Station, which has trains to Stockholm and more cities.

See also

References
  1. "Statistics for swedish airports 2018".
  2. Jenny Berggren (2020-05-14). "Västerås flygplats läggs ned". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  3. Information om genomförd folkomröstning
  4. "Statistics for swedish airports 2014". www.transportstyrelsen.se. Swedish CAA (Transportstyrelsen). Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  5. "Ryanair".

Media related to Stockholm-Västerås Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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