Response to interpellation 2023/24:413 on Arlanda Airport's competitiveness
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD considers that the government takes Arlanda's competitiveness very seriously and has appointed a coordinator to improve the airport's accessibility and capacity 1 2. KD argues that the coordinator should move from investigation to workshop to create mature proposals for the national plan 3 and that aviation and shipping are now included directly in Trafikverket's orientation basis 4. KD emphasizes that the government has prioritized domestic biofuel production 2 and changed the travel policy to be mode-neutral 2. S considers that the coordinator's mandate is a repetition of previous reports 5, that the government is postponing decisions 5 and that Trafikverket's basis lacks aviation 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Isak From has asked me if the government intends to take any initiatives in response to the demands to improve the competitiveness of Arlanda Airport.
In an interpellation debate on December 9, 2022, I and Isak From debated the capacity needs for Arlanda Airport. I will not repeat everything I said at that time, but I still want to emphasize that I take the issue of Arlanda Airport's competitiveness very seriously.
Recently conducted studies also show with all clarity that Arlanda's accessibility to the outside world is decreasing and that the airport's attractiveness, for example in relation to Copenhagen's airport Kastrup, is also decreasing.
In the interpellations debate in December 2022, Isak From raised the issue of the need to appoint an Arlanda negotiator. I can state that the government has moved forward with that issue and, before Christmas, decided to appoint a coordinator for Arlanda airport's competitiveness.
The coordinator has a very important task ahead of them to engage in dialogue with, for example, municipalities, regions, state agencies, and the business community to identify and propose measures that can be implemented for increased capacity and improved accessibility in the transport system to and from Arlanda Airport.
The coordinator shall report to the Government Offices in May 2025, and the work will constitute one of several important bases for the government's decision on the upcoming national plan for transport infrastructure for the period 2026-2037.
I want to point out that the coordinator, as a basis for their analysis, shall, among other things, proceed from the results of Trafikverket's ongoing investigation regarding capacity for land transport to and from Arlanda Airport.
Swedavia AB operates and develops Arlanda Airport as well as nine additional airports in Sweden in the national base supply. Companies with state ownership are subject to the same laws as privately owned companies, for example, the Companies Act. In the Companies Act, there is a division of responsibility between owners, the board, and management. Decisions regarding investments at Arlanda Airport are, like other matters of an operational nature, the responsibility of Swedavia's board and management to handle within the framework of their mandate.
Swedavia's board and management have, despite the negative effects of the pandemic, continued to invest in and develop the company, including Arlanda airport. For example, the new security checkpoint in terminal 5 opened its doors in June last year.
The government has, over the past year, taken measures in the aviation sector, for example a doubled state subsidy for non-state airports. Such a measure also has positive effects for the airport system as a whole, even for Arlanda. From the government's side, it is important to look at the whole. One measure does not exclude the other, but the important thing is that the measures being taken are connected as a whole.
I can state that the government has taken important measures to improve the conditions for Arlanda Airport's long-term development. But we need to continue. That is also why the government simultaneously continues the strategic work regarding aviation's competitiveness. In that context, among other things, the proposals from the Arlanda Inquiry and the Airport Inquiry continue to be subjects of analyses and assessments. I therefore have every reason to return to the issue of Arlanda Airport's competitiveness.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! Just as Andreas Carlson pointed out, we had a debate here just over a year ago in December 2022. It was on the occasion of Peter Norman's airport investigation and the issues raised there, and also direct demands for the government to take action.
When I now read Andreas Carlson's answer and the committee directives that the government has given to the coordinator who has been appointed, I think that perhaps one should clarify a bit. Much of the writing that exists in the committee directive to the coordinator that the government appointed on December 20 last year actually comes directly from what Peter Norman has already reported to the government.
Furthermore, everything is being pushed forward now. Now Peter Norman is to have a larger assignment. That must be kept in mind. He is to report on it next year during spring or summer. The question is what will happen then. Will it be a new consideration in about a year before one is to take the next step, if it even becomes a step?
The right-wing government, led by the Sweden Democrats, has had a very high level of negligence regarding aviation's competitiveness. But it is exactly as stated in my interpellation just over a year ago, which I repeat now in my interpellation and which Peter Norman has also repeated in his previous investigation. Arlanda is losing competitiveness against Copenhagen and Helsinki. One must be aware that the changes in SAS's ownership, which have occurred since we had the last interpellation debate, also affect Arlanda's competitiveness.
Andreas Carlson says in his response that many of these questions are questions for Swedavia's board. That is partly true. I had a debate with Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, because it is the Finance Minister who has the primary responsibility for the state-owned companies. We then established that the government makes decisions collectively.
Sweden's taxpayers and Sweden as a country own Swedavia. It is also about the ownership structure. If the government has any interest in steering Swedavia in any particular direction, the government has every opportunity to do so. It is not just a matter for Swedavia's board to make up whatever they want with Sweden's airport competitiveness.
For northern Sweden and certainly also for southern Sweden, Arlanda is the most important airport. Peter Norman has submitted more investigation proposals, among others, that more airports should be allowed to become state-owned.
I note that it is stated in the answer given by Andreas Carlson that one should have a dialogue with regions and municipalities. What is the starting point based on that? Is it that municipalities and regions should take greater responsibility for the state infrastructure?
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you very much, Isak From, for the questions!
I will not go into much detail in this post regarding the relationship between the owner and the board and the operational responsibility. Isak From is very familiar with what applies to a state-owned company and the framework of the Companies Act.
Let me be very clear that the assignment that Peter Norman has now received from the government is not another "think-about" investigation that is to report in 2025 and then be taken further in a new investigation. That is what I am very clear about. This is a more operational assignment that is to proceed from the observations and proposals that have been submitted in the Arlanda investigation.
The date that is there, 2025, is the date for the final report. Peter Norman is working at a high pace, I have made sure of that. It will not surprise anyone if parts of the reporting occur in stages, given the nature of the assignment that Peter Norman now has as coordinator.
It concerns, for example, the question of connectivity and accessibility to Arlanda and the situation we have today with commuting options that are limited to and from Arlanda, not least in the surrounding area around Arlanda. It is an expensive cost to get up to Arlanda with the station fee that exists.
He shall also look at other measures that may be needed and in that work very closely with Trafikverket, which will provide an account. The purpose of all these steps is to have proposals that are so mature that they can be included and considered in the national plan. It is truly to move from investigation to workshop. It is in the assignment. The member can certainly read the directives once more.
Madam Speaker! In the interpellation answer, I have pointed out that the expectation I have is not for a new investigation, but that it is now a coordination mandate that applies. The interpellator presents in the interpellation that Trafikverket's work to review Arlanda's surrounding infrastructure, as previous governments have emphasized, should be accelerated so that investments can be in place as soon as possible.
I want to remind Isak From that the previous government had eight years to address the infrastructure needs for Arlanda Airport, and nothing happened. Despite the Social Democratic government developing an aviation strategy in 2017, establishing the Arlanda Council that same year, and forcing the Arlanda Inquiry to be appointed in 2022 through an announcement by the Swedish Riksdag, it was quite empty of proposals that would enable the reinforcements the member is asking for. The Arlanda Council also worked on a roadmap for Arlanda that fell through.
It is clear that Arlanda's competitiveness would have been in a better position if more had been done during these eight years. But I am pleased with the consensus that we seem to have today. I hope that it will persist. Now there must be an end to the active opposition to aviation that paved the way for the situation we have today, and where Isak Froms party is to the highest degree co-responsible.
One sat in a government position during the time when one could have prepared Arlanda and Swedish aviation to be better equipped for the situation we have now, which is a tough situation for Arlanda's competitiveness. It is a tough situation for Swedish aviation. It is my ambition that we can collectively manage to get out of this and strengthen aviation's competitiveness. I want to thank Isak From for that common ground.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! That was the starting point when the Social Democratic government commissioned, among other things, the airport investigation. We saw that the competitiveness of aviation was threatened in the long run. At that time, even the ownership conditions for SAS had not changed, although they might have been in the works.
When I read the committee directive that forms the basis for the coordination task that the investigator Peter Norman is to undertake, I see that the work is to be carried out based on Trafikverket's orientation basis and Trafikverket's work. When one reads that basis, one becomes seriously concerned. Aviation is almost not included there at all, except for a very small part. From that perspective, the work that Peter Norman has been given is naturally very important.
We can also observe that from a social democratic context, Bromma is not necessary. Now there is a clear writing that Bromma can be developed towards electric aviation, but that is something Arlanda could also do.
If the government is seeking co-financing for Arlanda from the City of Stockholm, Region Stockholm, and I don't know who else is supposed to be involved in financing national infrastructure, perhaps the question should be: Is one not seeking co-financing from the City of Stockholm for Bromma? It is actually completely absurd: We have several smaller municipalities that, despite money being added, largely have to bear the entire cost for a municipal airport, while the state is to provide an airport in the middle of central Stockholm that is actually not needed. Would it not be appropriate to enter into a negotiation with the City of Stockholm regarding co-financing for Bromma as well, if it is so important to find co-financing?
Something I miss both in the committee directives and in Anders Carlsson's answer, but which we had up in our previous interpellation debate, is Arlanda's weather sensitivity. I just entered the Swedavia app, and the delays today are, by a hair's breadth, averaging 20 minutes. It has snowed a bit in Stockholm, and that usually is difficult. There are not that many cancelled flights today; it has improved. I also agree with Andreas Carlson that it was very good that Swedavia managed to get the new security check done. It has significantly reduced the queues. But it was also a result of previous work and nothing that has come from this government's work.
The questions now are: Where is a fourth runway? Where is the work to make Arlanda less weather-dependent? It actually affects the aviation infrastructure in all of Sweden and also to and from Sweden. It is a very important issue. Where did it go? Would it not finally also be in its place if the City of Stockholm co-financed Bromma?
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Isak From seems a bit concerned about aviation's place in the orientation basis from Trafikverket. I can reassure Isak From that it is now included from the beginning, as is maritime transport. One of the clear novelties in the government's mandate to Trafikverket to produce the orientation basis was precisely that all modes of transport should be included, including aviation and maritime transport. This is an important part of the orientation basis and will become an important part in the subsequent steps, especially when the measures are to be planned and decided upon that aim to strengthen the Swedish transport system, achieve more effect in it, and make it more sustainable, reliable, and robust.
This is a novelty in relation to the previous government. I hope that Isak From shares the commitment that aviation and maritime transport should now be included even more directly on the drawing board when discussing and taking a position on the national plan.
Here comes Peter Norman's coordination assignment. The coordinator shall use the results from Trafikverket's ongoing investigation regarding the capacity for land transport to and from Arlanda Airport as a basis for his analysis.
A circumstance that was included in the referral responses to the two latest national plans, I believe, but which was subsequently not included in the plans, is the fact that when Förbifart Stockholm is completed, there will be three-lane highways in both directions along the bypass, while the existing E4 north of Stockholm and up to Arlanda is a two-lane highway. The previous government had the opportunity to take this into account to prepare the traffic and avoid bottlenecks when it comes to commuting capacity and travel possibilities to and from Arlanda, but it was not included.
There are, therefore, several things where it would be appropriate to have some self-reflection: Would we have been in a better position and would Arlanda's competitiveness have been stronger if measures had been taken and aviation had not been opposed for eight years, perhaps as a result of settlements with partner parties in the government at that time?
A wet blanket has been draped over aviation and air transport. There has been a stigmatization of flying that in many ways has contributed to the tough situation that aviation and air transport have today.
Today, I am pleased that we seem to be in agreement that we shall strengthen the competitiveness of aviation. Strengthening it for Arlanda Airport is important, and that cannot be done without travelers. When I travel around the country, Madam Speaker, and meet municipal and regional representatives who highlight how important their own airport is, I am sometimes a little surprised that there are clear provisions in the travel policies that one should not primarily choose to fly.
There is a municipality in Norrland that I want to claim is an example, namely Skellefteå municipality, which also includes social sustainability in enabling travel by plane. One can then purchase extra biofuel, for example, and be part of the transition that is taking place.
Does Isak From have any ideas on how we could get more municipalities and regions to participate and contribute to the transition and at the same time strengthen competitiveness? I would like to take the opportunity to ask that here, some way into this interpellation debate, Madam Speaker.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! For the audience's knowledge, I want to say that we are here debating aviation and Arlanda's competitiveness.
I am very engaged in this from the need to travel to and from Stockholm, not least, but also from Stockholm and out into the world. The starting point for my interpellation is that very large investments are currently taking place in both Copenhagen and Helsinki.
It is said in the response that the coordinator shall cooperate with the business sector, and that is positive. But in its budget bill, this government is simultaneously reducing the funding to Visit Sweden, which is to market Sweden as a tourist destination out in the world. Why is that being done? Yes, quite a few are wondering about that, Madam Speaker. Quite a few are thinking: Here is an opportunity to market Sweden as the fantastic tourist destination it is, but at the same time, this reduction is being made. You are also enabling other countries, both Finland with Helsinki and Denmark with Copenhagen, to overtake Sweden.
Back to my question, which the Minister did not answer. Since co-financing is now being sought from regions and municipalities for Arlanda, the question is why co-financing is not being sought for Bromma. Obviously, Bromma would actually not be needed, as all that air traffic would fit at Arlanda - provided that a clear directive was received to reduce Arlanda's weather dependency. A new runway was probably needed, just as the Social Democratic government expressed.
What is also missing, even though Andreas Carlson was somewhat into that, is aviation's possibilities for transition. The Social Democratic approach was to enable biofuels also within aviation. In that case, it is very important that signals come in the ownership directives from the government that Swedavia shall invest in such.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! I note in this interpellation debate that we agree that Arlanda's competitiveness needs to be strengthened. I also note that there does not seem to be any awareness of the own responsibility for the wet blanket that I believe the previous government placed over aviation's competitiveness and Arlanda's development. The report on a roadmap for Arlanda, which it was said that one would produce, simply fizzled out.
I also note no response regarding the travel policy. But I expect that Isak From can be involved in spreading the opportunity that exists to both strengthen competitiveness and accelerate the transition by enabling the purchase of biofuels in the ticket and by having a travel-neutral way to approach the travel policy. The Government Offices have changed the travel policy so that it is travel-neutral. I welcome if others want to do so and if Isak From wants to contribute to that in different ways.
Just the transition in aviation is important to accelerate, facilitate, and remove obstacles for. The industry is driving it itself at high speed. The Government has also clarified in the climate action plan that it is a priority and that the domestic production of biofuels needs to increase, for both aviation and shipping needs. The Government is therefore working on this.
Madam Speaker! To summarize: We have much to do and have appointed the coordinator in order to strengthen Arlanda's competitiveness and make it easier to get to and from Arlanda. The coordinator himself has been involved in the issue of the runway, even if, from the division we have, it is primarily a matter handled by Swedavia's board and management.
I welcome the commitment and hope that more will agree that the competitiveness of aviation needs to be strengthened.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.