Visby Airport

Visby Airport (IATA: VBY, ICAO: ESSV), is located about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) north of Visby, Gotland, Sweden.

Visby Airport

Visby flygplats
Summary
Airport typePublic (Luftfartsverket)
OperatorSwedavia
ServesVisby
LocationGotland, Sweden
Elevation AMSL164 ft / 50 m
Coordinates57°39′46″N 018°20′46″E
Websiteswedavia.com/visby/
Map
VBY is located in Gotland
VBY
VBY
Location within Gotland
VBY is located in Sweden
VBY
VBY
VBY (Sweden)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
03/21 2,000 6,562 Asphalt
10/28 1,100 3,609 Grass
Statistics (2016)
Passengers total463,616
Domestic passengers448,784
European passengers11,428
Intercontinental passengers2,892
AIP[1]
Statistics: Transportstyrelsen[2][3]

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
The old terminal at Visby airport

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
An ATR 72 from SAS at Visby airport.

Passenger
AirlinesDestinations
BRA Braathens Regional AirlinesGothenburg, Malmö, Stockholm–Bromma
Seasonal: Aarhus, Ängelholm, Helsinki, Norrköping, Oslo
FinnairSeasonal: Helsinki
Norwegian Air Shuttle[7]Seasonal: Stockholm–Arlanda
RyanairSeasonal: Stockholm–Arlanda[8]
Scandinavian AirlinesStockholm–Arlanda

Cargo
AirlinesDestinations
Amapola Flyg Stockholm–Arlanda[9]

Statistics
Annual passenger traffic at VBY airport. See Wikidata query.
Busiest routes to and from Visby Airport (2022)[10]
RankAirportPassengers handled % change
2021/22
1Sweden Stockholm, Sweden[lower-alpha 1]259,833Increase 49.2
2Sweden Gothenburg, Sweden15,011Increase 40.3
3Sweden Malmö, Sweden10,346Increase 335.8
4Finland Helsinki, Finland3,396New entry
5Greece Rhodes, Greece2,339Increase 882.8
Traffic by calendar year[2]
YearPassenger volumeChangeDomesticChangeInternationalChange
2019 446,864Decrease04.5%433,408Decrease04.6%13,456Increase00.4%
2018 467,855Decrease04.8%454,483Decrease04.2%13,402Decrease017.2%
2017 491,503Increase06.0%474,684Increase05.7%16,189Increase09.1%
2016 463,616Increase07.5%448,784Increase08.0%14,832Decrease08.3%
2015 431,430Increase06.0%415,251Increase06.5%16,179Decrease06.0%
2014 406 998389,79317,205

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
Map of the airport in Visby.

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
  1. Includes flights to/from Stockholm–Arlanda and Stockholm–Bromma

References
  1. "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.
  2. "Flygplatsstatistik". Transportstyrelsen. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  3. "Statistics". Swedavia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  4. Carlsson, Anders. "Almedalsveckan sätter nya rekord i Visby". Flygtorget (in Swedish). Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  5. "Visby Airport / History". Swedavia. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
  6. 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.
  7. "Route map". norwegian.com.
  8. "Continued expansion and investment in domestic service from Stockholm Arlanda – Ryanair to launch 12 new routes for summer 2022 season". 10 November 2021.
  9. "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map".
  10. "Antal ankommande och avresande passagerare på Swedavias flygplatser, 2022" (XLSX). Swedavia.se. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  11. "Gotland 65 år före Stockholm". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on November 11, 2010.

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