It was Sweden's most popular buzzword of 2018the "flygskam", literally the ashamed to take a flight" . A move designed to castigate travellers who prefer air travel to other, more environmentally-friendly modes of transport. The "flygskam" was in fact a way of making people feel guilty about the environmental impact of air travel..
A sharp fall in traffic by 2023
The movement was well received for many Swedes. In fact, it led to a sharp slowdown in air traffic growth between 2018 and 2019.
Between 2018 and 2019, the country's ten airports lost 4% of their passengers.. With 40.16 million passengers in 2019, there was a shortfall of almost 2 million passengers compared with 2018. Stockholm-Arlanda, for example, lost 1.2 million (25.6 million in 2019).Göteborg and Malmö around 180,000 (-2% for the former, -8% for the latter). Domestic traffic was down by 12.5% over the year, and international traffic outside Europe by 7%!
The comeback is real after the Covid years. Last year, Swedish airports recorded growth of 17%32.1 million passengers. Stockholm-Arlanda will have seen the biggest growth at +19%, or 21.8 million passengers.
There are several reasons for this upturn. The first is the need for Swedes to travel again outside their own country. International traffic up by almost 20% compared with 2022. What's more, as Sweden is a very long country, flying within the country is ultimately the quickest option. While a flight between Kiruna in the north and Stockholm takes an average of 1 hour 40 minutes, the same journey by train takes at best... 15 hours! Last year, domestic traffic grew by 10%.
The decarbonisation of air transport is bearing fruit
What's more, the Minister for Infrastructure stressed that efforts to decarbonise the air transport industry are real and that the ability to fly responsibly is improving every year. What's more, air transport remains an essential economic factor in the country's prosperity...
Efforts to decarbonise air transport in Sweden are reflected, for example, in the operation of SAS Scandinavian Airlines. It is true that the carrier reported a 27% increase in emissions by 2023 compared with 2022. But this increase is due to the recovery in traffic following the pandemic years.
On the other hand, SAS offset 38 % of passenger-related carbon emissions over the year. The company uses more sustainable fuels (SAF). Or 6,049 tonnes in 2023, almost double the SAF volume in 2022. Ground measurements taken during the analysis of SAS flights using a mixture of 35 % of SAF show a 30 % reduction in ultrafine particle emissions.
The arrival of new aircraft over the next few years should reduce paraffin consumption from 15% to 20%. And contribute to a further reduction in CO2 emissions.
The Swedish Conservative government has therefore decided to invest SEK 1 billion (€90 million) in the Swedish aviation system.. In particular, it is helping to reduce the sector's debt after the Covid years. Covid was forced to freeze airport security and baggage handling charges. This was despite rising operating costs. The government had refused any increase in passenger taxes to support the recovery in traffic. The shortfall has now been made good. This will also stabilise prices for consumers.
